


The Past Doesn't Design the Future

by DarkJediQueen



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Aged up Stiles, All Human AU, Alternate Universe, Angst, Canon Kate/Derek Relationship, Canon Rape, Fear of Coming Out, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Warning: Kate Argent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:47:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29260731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: Derek made a horrible decision and when he finally tried to take it back, he wasn't able to. Now it's years later and he and Stiles are finally in the same place again. Can Stiles forgive him?
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 6
Kudos: 144





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> **Year** : Future  
>  **Spoilers** : Entire Series  
>  **Notes** : Stiles is the same age as Derek in this.  
>  **Alpha** : Starkindler  
>  **Beta** : ScarsLikeVelvet

# Prologue

###  **2003**

Derek watched as Stiles rushed around the house, getting things ready for school for the day. They had stayed up way too late working on a project, and Stiles had fallen asleep on the couch with Derek until the Sheriff had come home and woke them both up. Derek had ended up staying the night after calling his mom. Stiles looked happy as he smiled at Derek before grabbing the last thing, his hoodie. He donned it and rushed for the door. 

"Coming?" Stiles asked. 

"Sure." Derek grabbed his backpack and slipped it on as he walked toward the door. He was looking forward to when he could drive. He was looking forward to not having to catch the bus. 

The day passed as it always did with Stiles going through AP classes and anything else that he wanted just to be able to get the credits he needed to graduate while staying in the same grade as Derek. 

They had been friends since Derek had met him the summer that they were both seven. Derek had turned eight soon after school started. There was nothing that they hadn't done together since then. Including their first kisses. Which had led to what they were now, boyfriends—two freshman kids who were too cocky for their own good. Even Derek knew that Stiles had a bigger mouth than he could defend against. Shit was going to hit the fan when their classmates found out they were dating each other. 

Derek watched the other kids at the bus stop. The little kids' bus was the first bus to arrive, so there were many little kids around. 

Stiles talked about the project, the ideas he had going for it, and the research they had already done. Derek let the words wash over him as Stiles just kept on talking. He looked at the boy and girl who always rode at the back of the bus. They were two juniors who weren't allowed to drive because they had both wrecked too many cars. They sat in the back and made out the entire ride to and from school. At least on the days that Derek rode the bus with Stiles. Which was at least twice a week coming home. Sometimes once going when he stayed over for video game night. 

Though those video game nights were vastly different than they had been. Now there was kissing, and there was cuddling, sharing the bed to sleep. It was everything that Derek wanted, but he knew that it wasn't something he ever wanted to share with anyone. 

Even now, just the thought of telling anyone about Stiles, about what they did made Derek's blood run cold. He had wanted it. He had wanted it so much right up until the school year started. Then the doubt had begun to creep in. Derek loved Stiles, but he wasn't sure that he could ever love Stiles enough to be what he wanted. 

* * *

It was Halloween, and Derek watched as Stiles danced around with a few of the girls in the middle of the living room, where everything had been shoved aside to make room for dancing. He looked like a dork, but Derek loved watching him do it. 

"So what has you so happy?" Laura asked. 

"Nothing."

"Derek, you've been smiling for weeks, and no one can figure out why."

"Just enjoying high school." Derek swallowed past the lump in his throat. 

"You can't fool me, little brother." 

Derek looked at Laura, who was looking at Stiles. Stiles was happy. He was delighted because he had Derek, but Derek wasn't happy that he had Stiles. There was no going back, though. He could have stopped it that first time that Stiles had kissed him. Telling him that he didn't feel like that about him. It would have saved them both a lot of heartaches because there was no going back with Stiles. He wouldn't be the same with Derek after this.

"I don't need to fool you." Derek started toward where Stiles was. He knew what he needed to do to get Stiles to hate him because Stiles wouldn't let it go if he didn't. 

"Hey," Stiles said. He smiled at Derek with the smile that was just for him. Derek had been getting it since they were kids, and this was the last time he was going to be seeing it. Derek wished that he had the memory that would allow him to remember it forever. "Dance?"

"No," Derek said, letting anger fill his voice. 

"Derek?" Stiles asked as he finally stopped moving. He looked scared. 

"I don't want to dance. I don't want to do anything else with you. Ever."

"Are you brea-"

"SHUT UP!" Derek yelled. He barely paid attention as the music stopped, and every single eye landed on them. He felt someone behind him, and it only took a single whiff of Laura's perfume to know it was her. "Get the fuck out of my house. I don't want to ever see you again."

"Derek, what the hell," Laura demanded as she forced Derek to turn around and look at her. Derek fought out of her hold and looked back at Stiles.

"Derek, what's wrong?" Stiles asked. 

"I'm fucking sick of acting like I like you. You are an annoying brat that no one likes. They only like you out of pity because your mom died."

"Derek." Stiles barely got the word out, and it sounded like his heart was breaking. Derek's was, but he couldn't show it.

Derek shoved at Stiles, pushing back into the crowd that had formed. 

"Not even your mother wanted to stay with you, and everyone knows that your father works as much as possible, so he doesn't have to spend time with you." Derek hated himself. Using every single fear that Stiles had voiced to him over the years against him. "I'm sick of acting like this. I'm sick of looking at you and having to hang out because you lost your mom. I wish I would have done this years ago. I never want to see you again." 

Derek didn't have to say anything else. Stiles took off running out the back door and towards the woods that they both knew better than anything in the world. Derek heard Laura calling his name, but he just watched the best thing in his life leave before he took off running up to his room. He shut the door and didn't come out for three days. 

###  **2007**

Derek entered the school, and he saw the looks. Everyone knew what had happened at the end of the year and through the summer. Derek, being taken advantage of by an older woman. He knew the whispers that would follow him until it was forgotten about. Walking toward the library, Derek straightened his back and opened the doors. He knew exactly where to find Stiles because even though it had been almost two years since Derek had talked to him, he knew precisely where Stiles could be found at any given point in time. 

Stiles wasn't there, though. His pile of books wasn't on the table, and his backpack wasn't sitting by the leg. Derek wondered if maybe he was late. Derek knew that all of the lockers for the juniors were in the same hall. He walked over to find where they were. He waited for stiles until it was long past when he would be getting there to do any work. Derek was going to be late if he waited around anymore. 

Lunch passed, and Derek didn't see him there or in the halls. 

Derek was worried. He got into his car and drove over to the one place he hadn't wanted to go. He didn't want to ambush Stiles at home. He wanted to beg his forgiveness and hope that Stiles could do it, just not there. There was no cruiser in the driveway, and the Jeep that Stiles had started to drive was missing from the driveway as well. 

The drive to the station was short. Derek hadn't driven himself there before. Every time he had to go in and talk to the cops about what happened between him and Kate Argent over the summer, his mother had driven him. 

"Son?" Stiles' father asked.

Derek looked over and up at the man he had considered to be a father figure in his life. Even after Derek had hurt Stiles, when Derek had gone to the cops about what Kate had been doing with him, he had never acted any different. He hadn't treated Derek with anything but love and respect. Derek wasn't sure how long he had been parked outside of the station, trying to get the nerve to go inside. 

"I was looking for Stiles at school. He wasn't there. He wasn't at home. I was worried about him."

"Why?"

"I wanted to apologize for what I did."

"I see. Well, son, I'm sorry he's at college."

"What?" 

Noah leaned down and braced an arm on the window of Derek's car. He looked sad. "Yeah, he buckled down the last two years and finished out all of the requirements to graduate early, and then he started at Caltech. He went early and is living with a nice family there who has a son going to college there at Caltech for his freshman year. The dad's a cop for LA, and I met him at a conference." 

"He's gone?" 

"I'm sorry, son." Noah didn't say anything else. He tapped on the roof of Derek's car as he stood up and walked back into the station. 

Derek wasn't sure how he got home, but he returned to himself in his bed with a pillow under his head. It was soaked with his tears. He had lost the only thing in his life that was worth anything.


	2. Chapter 1

# Chapter 1

**2019**

Being back in Beacon Hills was hard for Derek. Even though Stiles wasn't living there anymore, it wasn't like the town wasn't full of memories. Those memories had haunted Derek since the day that he had humiliated Stiles in front of everyone at his house at the Halloween party that Laura had thrown. Laura had never forgiven him for doing it either. She had been pissed that he had nearly ruined the party but also really upset at how he had treated Stiles.

Derek had never told anyone why he had done it. He had just said that he was sick of Stiles and wanted him out of his life. Derek had never told anyone in his life that he was bisexual. He had experimented in college, to make sure, but that had ended up with him feeling like shit. Every single guy that he kissed tasted like Stiles. Smelled like him, felt like him. Derek had gone home from more than one hook up with some random guy remembering what little he had with Stiles and feeling like shit.

The whole quote about loving and losing was better than having never loved at all was a piece of shit. Derek knew that it was his own fault; it wasn't some accident that had taken Stiles out of his life. It was his own damned fear. It was his own bit of feeling like being bisexual wasn't enough.

The phone ringing pulled Derek out of his thoughts. He looked to see that it was his little brother Spencer. Spencer was at college at Caltech to learn computers. Derek knew that it was because of Stiles that Spencer was doing it. Stiles had got Spencer hooked on computers.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Derek asked.

"No. I have Wednesdays off. I'm here in Beacon Hills to talk to mom and dad. I want you to be there when I do."

"When?"

"An hour? Mom and dad are getting off work early to meet with me before I have to drive back. Jared is with me, and he'll be doing the driving."

"Jared is your housemate, yes?" Derek asked. Spencer lived in a house with seven other males and females. It was a four-bedroom, and all of them would rather do that than live in the dorm, so they all pitched in on the money. It worked well as none of them had to pay that much, really, and it was right off-campus.

"Yes. He is in the west room."

"I'll be there."

"Good. See you then!" Spencer hung up before Derek could say anything else.

Derek looked around where he was to see that he had pulled off the road at the ice cream shop that he felt like he spent most of his childhood at. It was close to the Sheriff's station and was a place that they hung out when they wanted to pester the Sheriff and then were kicked out for bugging the deputies.

It was another place that he had been avoiding. Though he had ended up here because he hadn't wanted to go home yet. His house was a reasonable distance away from the main house but on the same land, and his parents could see him coming back as his road split off in the sight of the main house. One of them came over every single day to check on him, considering that he didn't answer the phone when they called unless he had to.

Derek had been home for two months after the woman he had been dating for a year had taken his job away from him after he finished his fellowship. He hadn't even known that she had put in her bid for the job. After that, Derek had just wanted out of New York, so when his mother had dropped that a position in peds in the hospital was open, Derek had put in his application. He had been called back in a day for a phone interview and then came home for the in person. Derek hadn't even gone back to New York. He had a moving company pack up his stuff and bring it out. Derek had moved into the second house on the land as soon as his items had arrived.

Shutting off the car, Derek looked around. The ice cream shop hadn't changed much since the last time that he had been there. He could almost see Stiles sitting on the bench where they sat to watch everyone going about their day. Hoodie on and up because the ice cream made him cold, even in summer. Smile on his face as he talked. Hand not holding the ice cream waving around as he spoke.

Derek blinked to banish the view of Stiles, but when he opened his eyes again, he could see that it was Stiles. Derek gripped the steering wheel hard as he looked at him. Derek could see the laugh lines on his face now; gone was the baby fat that Stiles had carried the last time Derek had seen him. Derek stared at Stiles as he talked to someone. The man beside him was smiling as he listened to Stiles.

"HEY! Assholes! Work!" a woman yelled from somewhere. Derek looked around but couldn't see anyone. Stiles stood up, though, and took a lick of his ice cream before heading to the mouth of the alley that ran between the ice cream shop and the building beside. The other guy followed behind.

Derek jumped when there was a rap on the window of his car.

"Sir, everything all right?" a voice asked as soon as Derek had the window rolled down. Derek looked at the deputy. Parrish was the name on the uniform.

"Yes. I pulled off to answer a phone call from my little brother before heading home."

"You new to the area?" Parrish asked. He was smiling, so at least he wasn't worried about Derek low key watching Stiles.

"Just moved back. Derek Hale." Derek held out his hand, and Parrish shook it.

"The new doc at the hospital. Sheriff Stilinksi was happy you had come home to work. Said the area could benefit from you. I wasn't aware that he knew you, but the way he talked, it was evident that he did."

"Yeah. Knew him growing up."

"You look right around Stiles' age. Friends with him?"

"Something like that. I should be getting home. Long double shift."

"Ah, the newbie gets the horrible shifts. It took a year for someone to come in after I did at the station, and they could get the shitty shifts. Have a good day, Doctor Hale."

"You too, Deputy Parrish."

Derek waited for the deputy to leave the general area before he turned the car on and started to drive away. Derek checked his mirror every few seconds, making sure not to speed, he used his turn signal. He was afraid that the Sheriff would come up behind him to catch him doing something wrong. It was an unfounded fear; Derek knew that. Even after Derek had broken Stiles' heart, he had never been pulled over outside of stops in areas where traps were set up for drunk drivers. Most of the time, even then, Derek had been waved through as soon as the deputy or even the Sheriff himself had seen him. He had only had to walk in a line once, and it had been a new guy who had thought the smell of cigarettes from a party Derek went to was to cover up the smell of alcohol.

Nearly running as he got out of his car, Derek stopped only when he was on his porch. He was glad that he was home and wouldn't be leaving again. His mom had told him that Stiles wasn't back. That he hadn't been seen by her at all and that the Sheriff hadn't mentioned it. His mom was one of the foremost lawyers in the city, so she was at the station more than she would like. His dad owned and ran the best coffee shop, and Stiles didn't live without it. Stiles had still gone there even after Derek had hurt him, so that couldn't be the reason why Stiles wasn't seen there. Derek wondered if Stiles just didn't drink coffee anymore.

"Derek?" Spencer asked.

"Hey."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing. I just got a little rattled when one of the deputies followed me from near the main road to here." Derek knew that it was a lie, but it was the best he could come up with. Thankfully, Spencer was still young and stupid enough to believe that family didn't lie to each other. 

"You know you have had that fear for a long time, but nothing ever came of it. The Sheriff isn't that much of an asshole."

"I know." Derek did know it, but he felt guilty for what he had done. That guilt manifested in a lot of anxiety and a fear that one day Stiles was going to return the favor and hurt him in the worst way possible at the moment where Derek was his lowest or highest. 

"Let's go. Mom got home early, and Dad came home at lunch." Spencer grabbed Derek's arm and tugged him along with him. Derek was still in the clothes that he had worn to the hospital the day before, but he wasn't filthy. They had only been on his body for the trip from home to the hospital, and then he had been in scrubs, three different pairs considering he had been bleed on once and then thrown up after that. He had showered after both, but he still felt a little dirty. 

"Derek," Talia said as she got out of her car just as Derek and Spencer were walking up to the house. "Spencer." Talia looked Spencer up and down. "You look healthy. Have you got a girl pregnant?"

"What? NO!" Spencer actually started to laugh at that, and he muttered something that was under his breath enough that even Derek couldn't understand what he said. "Can we just get this over with?"

"It's your show, son," Gregory said at the door. "Derek, on the other hand, looks like he saw a ghost."

"He had a deputy follow him from the main road to here. They kept on going, though. You know how freaked out he gets."

"Yes, we do."

Derek shoved at Spencer and cursed his brother for bringing that up because it took his thoughts back to Stiles and seeing him. Seeing him here in Beacon Hills. Derek looked at his mother and father to see if they looked a little guilty for anything. Derek knew that his parents loved him. He also knew that they would lie if they thought it would save him heartbreak. 

For years, every time that Halloween and what had really happened that night came up, Derek refused to talk to his family. They had given up by the time that Derek had graduated from college. Derek had processed it all in the therapy he had been put into after a minor freak out during his years at Med school. He had talked around the issue enough that his therapist had been able to help him without ever admitting why he had done what he had done. 

"So Spencer, what was so important that you drove home from Caltech to talk to us on a weekday, and you needed your brother here?" Talia asked as soon as they were all seated in the living room. 

"I'm gay," Spencer blurted out.

Derek looked at Spencer, and he tried to process that. He heard the intake of breath from his parents and was about to lash out at them when he realized that they were not about to yell. Talia was trying not to laugh while their father was not trying nearly hard enough.

"Spencer, my precious baby boy, I knew that from the moment you were two. You had the biggest crush on Stiles when you were a kid, and you hated that he spent more time with Derek instead of you. You were not subtle at all. I talked to Stiles about it a lot. He found it adorable, and it was why he did those movie nights with you. You were my adorable jealous little boy."

Derek couldn't breathe. He looked at his mother and his father. They had never talked about anything like that around him. He knew that they accepted everyone who was not straight; they kind of had to in the small town but had never said that they would accept their children being that. He shoved himself to his feet and took off. He heard the slamming of the door and the shattering of glass, but he didn't go back. 

Running until his lungs hurt and his body was too tired to anymore, Derek dropped down where he was. He felt a tree at his side, and when he could move, he pulled himself up to lay on the roots. It made almost a nest that he could lay in. His brain wasn't able to process anything. 

Derek started to shiver, so he curled into a ball. He knew that it was dark now that night had fallen, but he didn't care. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, even now. 

The sound of dogs had Derek curling tighter. If he stayed like he was, the dogs wouldn't find him. He had to smell like the area now. He was safe, and no one was going to find him. 

"He was right," a voice said from too close for Derek's liking. He curled tighter into a ball. 

"Son, Derek." There was a hand on his shoulder, and Derek just shook his head. He didn't want to leave his nest. It was safe here. 

"Derek?" another voice said, and this one Derek knew. He started to shake. It was torture, hearing that voice, just like seeing him that day. 

"I've got this. You go and tell his mom and Dad." The second voice was known now; it was the Sheriff. Derek wanted to cry, but his voice was stuck in his throat. "I'll have an EMT check him out before sending him home. I promise."

Stiles didn't say anything. There was the sound of feet moving away, and then something cold and wet was pressing into his side. Derek heard the whuff and then felt the hot breath. 

"Maisy, stop," the Sheriff said. 

"Maisy?" Derek asked. He remembered a puppy being trained for police business finding lost hikers nearly twelve years ago. He had been the one to foster the pup after it had been found. When he had learned that Maisy was going to the Beacon Hills Sheriff's department, he had trained her the best that he ever could. 

"Yeah, I think she missed you. Come on, Son, let's get you up off the ground. Your lips are a little blue." 

Derek allowed himself to be put up to a sitting position, and he looked around. There wasn't anyone else around, just the Sheriff and Maisy.

"Stiles was in my office when the call came through that you had run into the woods hours before and hadn't come out, and your parents were worried. When we got on the scene, Spencer had put himself into a panic attack all on his own. Stiles calmed him down that you would never hate him."

"What do you mean?" Derek asked as Maisy crawled into his lap and made herself at home. 

"Spencer blurted that you freaked out that he was gay. Stiles told him that you were not upset about that. Stiles didn't tell him why that was, but we both know. I'm just shocked your family doesn't know."

"I never told them, Sir. About any of it."

"I see."

Derek wasn't sure that he did, but the tone wasn't harsh. It was the same caring tone that he had always taken with Derek. 

"Now, son. I know you just moved to town, but I need you to do me a favor."

"Anything." Derek meant it too. He would do almost anything. 

"Maisy is about to be retired. Actually, today was probably her last hunt for idiots who get lost in the forest."

"I'm not lost." Derek looked around and saw that he wasn't lost. He knew exactly where he was and how to get home. This had been his and Stiles' secret spot. He wasn't shocked that Stiles knew where to find him.

"Not in the traditional way you are not. She has two working days left before she's going to be handed off to a family. Her handler has a new baby, and it was found that she's allergic to dogs, or Maisy would be going with him. Do you want her?"

"Why me?"

"Because as soon as she got your scent from clothes that Spencer got, she nearly snapped her lead to be released. Also, I think you need her as much as she needs you. That was a pretty epic panic attack you had."

"Yes, Sir." Derek looked down at Maisy in his lap. She was too big for it, but she got right into the same position that she had been in when she had been a pup. "I'll take her."

"Good. We can talk about that later. With you living close to your family, you can easily have them check on her during a long shift. Parrish went back with Stiles, but we need to be heading back. It's just going to get colder, and you are without shoes."

Derek looked at his feet and realized that he had taken off his shoes out of rote when he had entered his parents' house. He was just wearing his socks. He shivered as if seeing that made him cold. He felt a jacket drop over him. It was the one that the Sheriff had been wearing. He had a long sleeve shirt on under his uniform, so he didn't look like he would be that cold. Derek helped Maisy out of his lap and then stood up, getting his arms through the holes in the coat. He pulled it tight and tried to remember the sign for having Maisy just follow them. 

The Sheriff said nothing as they walked back toward the house. Derek's parents were waiting on the pack porch with Spencer, wrapped in Derek's coat hanging on the rack inside the back door. As soon as Spencer saw him, he took off running toward Derek. Derek caught him as he plowed into him, and they both landed on the ground. 

"Don't do that, asshole," Spencer nearly yelled in Derek's ear. "I thought you hated me. That you left because I disgusted you."

"Never, Spence. Never. I freaked out about something else."

"Yes, I think you did," Talia said. 

Derek looked up at his mother. Then he looked for the Sheriff, who was over on the porch talking to Derek's father. 

"Mom?" Spencer asked.

"Sweetie, you need to go back to Caltech for classes. Jared is waiting on you in the front room. I'll make sure that Derek talks to you tomorrow."

"I can miss-"

"No, kid. Go back." Derek hugged him back tightly and pressed a kiss to his forehead. "You are so brave for coming out."

"Derek." Spencer looked at Derek with heartbreak on his face, and Derek was pretty sure at that moment that Spencer understood what had freaked out Derek and why Derek had stopped being friends with Stiles. Whether Spencer got that they had been together or that Derek had just been afraid, Derek wasn't sure, but both were roughly the same. Neither of them was good, really. 

Derek's head couldn't stop thinking about the fact that he could have come out to his parents. He hadn't needed to hide that away to keep the family happy. 

Time passed like it was in a weird tilt'o'whirl that moved at different speeds. Derek was led inside, and he was nearly out of it as his mother cleaned up his feet after getting his socks off. The fire was stoked in the hearth beside the chair where Derek had been settled. He watched his mom in the kitchen through the open half wall as she made up hot cocoa for them. 

Derek wasn't sure what he was going to say. They were going to want to know, and unlike when he was a child, Derek wasn't going to be able to ignore them. 

"Honey, you never talked about it," Talia said as she sat down on the couch beside her husband with a smile on her face. It wasn't a happy smile. Derek knew it from when she talked to traumatized kids as part of her job. "We just assumed that you knew that we knew, and you were happy with never talking about it. I mean, there was the whole break up with Stiles-"

Derek whined at that, and he curled in on himself. He felt like such a child, but emotionally he was raw right now.

"Honey, did you know that Laura is the only child that we have that is straight? Cora and Spencer are both gay, and we knew that you were at least bisexual when you met Stiles. Honey, we knew, and we never cared. Cora came out to us when she was in high school. We didn't talk about it because she never talked about it around other people."

"I have to wonder now if she was doing that because she was afraid of hurting Derek," Gregory said. 

"You knew I broke up with Stiles?"

"Well, Laura said that you had been acting off, and we all know that Stiles and that one blonde-haired girl was around him a lot."

"They were partners on a project for English."

"Well, we assumed that you didn't want to hide the relationships anymore, and he wanted to keep it that way. Sheriff's son and all of that. Then he came out as gay just before leaving to go to Caltech, getting caught kissing that boy in his father's office and all of that. You never talked about it, but I never thought it was because you were afraid. I figured that you knew we knew and just didn't want to talk about it. I know I said that, but honey, we love you." 

Derek looked at his mom and saw that she was nearly in tears. Derek took a drink of the hot chocolate in his hands and let out a low moan. He set the mug down and walked over to sit between them, and they moved so that he could. 

"Mom, Dad, I'm bisexual, and I hurt and pushed away Stiles because I was afraid of coming out. I wrecked the best thing in my life because I was scared." Derek felt the words stick in his throat several times, but he kept on going until it was all out. He felt both of his parents wrap their arms around him, and he let out all of the tears that he had pushed down for years inside of himself out. 

Derek wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but since Derek had the day off, his parents took the day off as well. None of them left the house, and even breakfast was ordered in to be dropped off. Even though they talked about horrible things, it was one of the best days that Derek had ever had in his life.


	3. Chapter 2

# Chapter 2

Derek heard the puking before he got into the ER. It sounded horrible, and that he knew it was a kid was just making it all that much worse. He had his patients, but the peds doctor covering the ER had been out for two days with a broken arm, so Derek was covering. 

"What do I have?" Derek asked. 

"Nine-year-old kid named Aurora presented with throwing up and a fever of 102. She's been puking for the last twenty minutes here, and the lady who brought her in said that she started throwing up half an hour before they called the squad. Her father is on his way, but he was an hour outside of town. I wouldn't worry about him getting here, though. I'm sure that he'll have a police escort from the county line."

Derek wondered who the father was, considering that they would get a police escort. He opened up the curtain while he looked at the chart. He stopped, though, when he saw the last name. Stilinski. There was only a single Stilinski family in the town. Nine years old put her as born just after Stiles would have finished his Ph.D. that he had been going for. Derek remembered Stiles' plans for his life during college and after. A child hadn't been in there until they were both settled, and adoption was a possibility. Beacon Hills had a few kids who always needed a home, and given who the Sheriff was, it would have eased their adopting a kid, even if some didn't think that two guys could adopt. 

Stiles had talked Derek into talking about their future a lot, usually at night, when they were lying in bed together. Sex really hadn't been on their mind, just being close. 

"Hello, Aurora, my name is Doctor Derek, and I'm going to be taking care of you today." 

"Hello, Doctor..." the woman said. 

Derek looked at her to see a younger woman who seemed about the same age as Cora. 

"Doctor Hale," Derek introduced himself to her. He didn't hold out his hand, and he hoped that she didn't mind. He wasn't gloved up, and with Aurora puking like she was, it had to be a bug of some kind. It wouldn't do for him to get sick as well. 

"Erica Reyes, I watch Aurora when her father goes out of town for things for work. He was on his way home when she started to throw up. Stiles has already called everyone that she has had contact with over the last few days to see if they were sick, and no one has thrown up outside of getting drunk."

"Well, that doesn't mean anything. She's a kid, and school is in session. There could be several kids with this, and given it's the weekend, it wouldn't be known until Monday. It's Friday night, which means that incubation could be as short as a few hours to a day. There are a lot of people she could have come in contact with that have it but are at home and haven't come in to be seen." 

Derek started his check on Aurora's body, checking her lymph nodes as much as he could for swelling and then her stomach for any pain. She was a trooper and didn't even try and squirm away from him unless it was to throw up. There was a bedpan for her as most of what was coming up was bile at that point. There was an area for it to be dumped, and each time Erica did that instead of letting the nurse do it. 

The curtain being wrenched open had Derek moving to protect his patient until he saw that it was Stiles and his father. His father was in his uniform, so he was probably on the clock or just getting off work.

"How are you doing, Rora?" Stiles asked as he walked up to the head of the bed, bypassing Derek altogether with barely a look. 

"My stomach hurts, and now my chest does."

"Doctor Hale?" Stiles asked.

"The chest is most likely from throwing up, but I'll be having tests run to make sure that it is all that it is." 

"Thank you, Erica. I know you won't leave, but maybe just me and her in here?"

"Sure thing, boss!" Erica kissed her hand and pressed it to Aurora's forehead before she turned to leave. Derek watched as she used the dispenser of hand sanitizer before she left the curtained off area.

"I'm going to head to get some coffee. Coming off a double is killer," the Sheriff said. 

"Bye, Gramps!" Aurora called out.

"Her file should have her medical history based on what is known about her mother and father," Stiles said as soon as the curtain was shut again. 

Derek frowned and picked up the tablet he had been holding to bring it up. It was a comprehensive file, and Derek saw that Stiles was her adopted father. Mother was listed as deceased, and the father had given up rights to her before birth. The date of Stiles' adoption of her was marked as just days after she was born. 

"I see nothing in this that would say that this is genetic," Derek said.

"She's rarely sick other than her allergies in the spring when the first flowers pop up. A bug or two here from the kids at school, but she's outside enough, and I don't obsessively keep her clean, so her body builds up its own antibodies to the simple stuff."

"Just like your dad and mom raised you."

"Yeah."

"Daddy, you know Doctor Derek?" Aurora asked.

"Yeah, Rora, we went to school here in Beacon Hills together. We played together a lot growing up too." Stiles was smiling as he said it, brushing the few strands of hair that were caught on the sweat on Aurora's forehead away. "He's going to take excellent care of you. He does for everyone, but I know him, and he'll be extra special for you." Stiles looked up at Derek with that, and his eyes were pleading.

"He's right." Derek started to fill out the information needed for the tests he wanted to run. "But first, I want to have your blood drawn to make sure that there is nothing in there that is making you sick. Then once it's been looked at, we can see about giving you something to make you stop throwing up. Mister Stilinski?"

"You can call me Stiles, Derek. It's fine," Stiles said as he followed Derek out of the curtained off area. 

"She's going to be fine, Stiles. It's probably just a virulent strand of a stomach bug. We can test to make sure it's not anything else. Have you or your father felt run down the last few days?"

"I've not been home. I was away at a tech conference. Dad watches Aurora when he can. If not, she's watched by Erica and sometimes Boyd, Erica's boyfriend. Erica has epilepsy, but her medication has been doing well with her lately, and she's not a seizure in a year. Aurora was there for that one and freaked out before calling him. I was at work, and Dad was working as well."

"What about where you work?"

"Well, there are only a few of us there, and no one has called out. I've been talking to them all, and they don't sound all that sick or tired. Outside of Isaac. He went out and got drunk and regretted it the next morning, but he was good that afternoon after he got some coffee in him. I'll call and check, though. A few should still be there at the shop."

"Isn't it late for the store to be open?" Derek asked.

The look that Stiles gave Derek told him that he was off the mark by a lot. Derek had no clue what other kind of a store Stiles would run.

"Dude, there is no time limit on baked goods."

"What?" Derek asked.

"I'll call my guys and see if they know of anyone who has been around the shop and sickly or even regulars who haven't been seen today. Isaac keeps a good mental record of that kind of stuff." Stiles pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and walked back to where Aurora was getting ready to throw up again. Derek watched to make sure that she wasn't too violently ill and relaxed when nothing came up. He put in the last of the tests that he wanted to be done on her if the blood test came back fine. With her abdomen coming in just fine on his manual check, Derek was pretty sure that it wasn't something foreign in her stomach that was causing the issue. It was probably just a stomach bug, but it was better to check everything with children. It took little for them to get really sick and have issues with their developing bodies. Derek watched as the nurse came over to take the blood needed with a kit in her hand. She said something to Stiles that Derek could barely hear. Nurse McCall was one of the best nurses that the ER had, and Derek loved working with her.

The Sheriff came back while Derek looked over the other patients' files. None of them needed him, and he would rather be right in the ER to help with anything than to be just standing around his office waiting on tests. 

"Derek," Noah said as he walked over toward him. He had two cups of coffee in his hand from the small coffee shop that ran twenty-four hours a day inside the hospital. The cops would sometimes show up just for coffee in the middle of the night, so it made more than enough to keep itself going during the off-peak hours for the hospital and other emergency personnel. Derek had been shocked about that, but it also was good as it meant that his father's place could shut down sooner. 

"Sheriff," Derek said, and he looked at Noah's face to see the glare there. "Noah." 

Derek had dealt with the Sheriff in the line of his job a lot over the last few months that he had been in the area. Too many kids brought in by the cops and EMTs for stupid things that they should have been watched by parents for. It wasn't as bad as it could have been; there had been no outright abuse. 

"The kids are going to be upset," Noah said.

"Kids?"

"Ah, the three who work with Stiles. Erica, who you met, Isaac, and Boyd. They all love that little girl and hate seeing her sick and will think that they were the ones to bring the bug to her."

"Unless they come down with it, I would assume that they aren't the one."

"And that would make you feel better?" Noah asked.

"No, not really." Derek knew where Noah was coming from. The man had raised Stiles and Derek a little bit as well. Derek was pretty sure that Noah had loved him just like a son. Derek had sure looked up to him as a father figure. 

"Nurse McCall is one of the better ones. I've never heard her stick a kid, and they cry unless they were already scared."

"Yeah, I love it when she's down here when I cover an ER shift." 

Nurse McCall came out of the room with the vials in the basket. Derek could see that she could get as many as he needed. Which was good; that would mean that the tests wouldn't take all that long. It was a slow night in the ER, so it shouldn't take that long for the lab to get the results back to him. 

"Now, it's the waiting game."

"I'll have some ginger ale brought down for her to see if it helps to settle her stomach. Don't let her drink too much."

"Oh, I won't have a say in that. Stiles will probably only let her take a few drops at a time. The term helicopter parent has nothing on him. He's good about it, though. He's better at being a single parent than I ever was."

"You made him."

"He made himself, and we both know that. I just kept him from doing too many stupid things."

Derek laughed and nodded his head to that one. Stiles had pretty much raised himself with a little bit of help from Derek's parents. Derek's stomach rolled at the thought that he had nearly done a hell of a lot more damage to Stiles than he thought. He hadn't just cut Stiles off from him but from the family that loved him in Derek's family. 

"He hates me, doesn't he?" Derek asked.

"I can't answer that, Son. I never have been able to answer that. There are times that I think he wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire, and there are times that I think he'd sit at your bedside after putting you out. I've not told him anything about that night. He doesn't need to know about your life more than you want to tell him. I've never told him things that I learned while on the job about anyone."

"I don't even know where to start." 

"Here." Noah reached into his uniform pocket and handed him a little card. It was for a free doughnut at The Moon's Spark Bakery. Derek looked at him funny. "Just go there any morning, and don't be an asshole."

Derek slipped it into his pocket with his phone. It was in a little smaller pocket so it wouldn't get lost. He wasn't sure what that was going to do, but he would do it. Noah had never steered him wrong before. 

An hour later, Derek entered the room that Aurora had been transferred to for an overnight stay. She had an IV hooked up that was giving her fluids. She was asleep, her throwing up had been abated for at least now, but ginger ale in her belly had not helped. Stiles was asleep in a chair, the string from his hoodie in his mouth like he had fallen asleep while chewing it. A feat that Derek had seen many times when they had stayed up to watch TV when they had been younger. 

"Stiles," Derek said low enough that he hoped that Aurora wouldn't hear it. 

Stiles jerked a little, but he didn't move like he was waking up. He smacked his lips, though, and the string fell out of his mouth. Derek walked over to shake him awake, really, really hoping that Stiles didn't scream. Stiles jerked, though, his eyes flying open. He nearly slid out of the chair but stopped himself at the last minute. 

"Derek?" Stiles said, and his voice was nearly exactly like it used to be when Derek woke up Stiles from afternoon naps during summer when the sun warmed their skin while they had been laying in the preserve. "Shit. Sorry."

"It's fine. You need your sleep too. She'll be staying with us at least the night. It seems that she's not the only one sick, and I would send her to school with packed lunches for the next while."

"What does she have?"

"She's got a mild form, which you are lucky but food poisoning. Some of the kids are violently sick, so I would think that she ate only a little. The school board is trying to figure out what exactly caused it. It's only her grade, so they are thinking the afternoon snack given the time on the point of starting to feel back up to getting sick like this. Her throwing up was more severe, but she doesn't have the other symptoms that the kids do."

"Yeah, I pack her lunch all the time anyway. I'll start sending something for the afternoon snack as well. She likes apples with peanut butter, and her class doesn't have any kids with allergies, but I'll check that. Thanks, Doctor Hale."

"We can start to give her some things for this now that we know what it is. Her muscles are very sore from throwing up and a little swollen, so I'm going to prescribe something for the pain as well. The dosages will be on the bottle, but don't feel like you have to give her all of that if she doesn't need it. For the first day or so, I would say to give her the correct dosages at the correct time, and then after that, see what she's like when she wakes up. She's not contagious, and no one gave her anything. Well, not a transmission giving her anything that is."

"I'm okay to sleep here tonight, right?" 

"If you must, yes."

"Thanks. I'll try and go back to sleep now. I didn't sleep last night. I stayed out late with guys from the conference and decided to just take a pill and not sleep rather than get only two hours before I had to be back." Stiles wiped his hands down his face and sighed. "Sorry. I have verbal diarrhea when I'm tired."

"I remember well. Do you have your pills on you? For in the morning?" Derek could have someone get one from the pharmacy if needed. He could easily prescribe it. It wasn't like Stiles would lie about his dosage of Adderall.

"Yeah. I took an extra three days' worth of pills with me just to be safe. There was a chance that I might have to stay over. That ended when Erica called that she couldn't get Aurora to stop throwing up."

"Well, if you need anything, just ask a nurse. They will be more than glad to do anything. I'll check back on Aurora in the morning, and we can see when you guys get to go home." Derek reached out and clasped Stiles' shoulder. He could feel how stiff Stiles became at that but didn't lift his hand away right away. He squeezed and then did. Stiles hadn't thrown off the hand. 

Derek let himself out of the room, shutting the door behind him. He smiled at the nurse at the desk and then started out toward the waiting room. He wanted to sit down for a few minutes. Derek stopped when he saw the same deputy from a few weeks before sitting in a chair. He stood up when Derek came to a stop.

"Doctor Hale, right? Deputy Parrish. I was just waiting on Stiles to come out. I texted him, but he didn't answer."

"He was asleep when I just gave him the update on Aurora. Go ahead back. She's in room one. Here for the Sheriff?"

"Nah. The whole department. Food poisoning is nothing to sneeze at. She comes around just like Stiles used to, at least that's what I'm told. We all love her."

"She'll make a good recovery, but that's all I can tell you." 

"Thanks, Doc." Parrish nodded at him and then passed him as he walked past him to head toward the room where Aurora and Stiles were. 

Derek wondered not for the first time what he wanted to do. If he wanted to try and move on without trying again with Stiles, or he wanted to bare himself to the man that he had hurt. 

It wasn't going to be decided that night, though. Derek was too tired. Forgoing sitting in the waiting room, Derek went for the on-call room that saw the least amount of sexual activity by staff. Still, he stripped the sheets off of it and laid down with a fresh one before wrapping it over his body as well. It was as good as it was going to get for sleep for the night. 


	4. Chapter 3

# Chapter 3

Derek looked at the outside of The Moon's Spark Bakery. It looked like something from a fantasy novel with the painting that was covering the windows. There were small peeks into the inside, but nothing much showed a lot. Derek could see many customers inside, and there was even a barista. Derek hadn't realized that another place serving coffee had come into town. He hadn't heard his father complaining about the place yet.

Deciding that his free doughnut wasn't going to get served if he didn't go in, Derek pushed open the doors. He stopped, though just inside as the smell hit him. He smelled what he knew was his father's coffee beans. He frowned at that. His father had also not said that he had partnered with anyone in the city.

"Good morning," Stiles said. He turned around just as Derek looked up at him. Stiles had a big smile on his face. "We love seeing new faces don't we, Aurora?"

"Daddy, he's not a new face!" Aurora said.

Before Derek could pinpoint where she was, his body was being crashed into.

"Doctor Derek!" Aurora hugged him tight before she let go and danced back over to a table in the corner that was full of coloring things.

Derek looked at her to see that she was smiling brightly.

"Want a cup of coffee? You look like you need it."

"Yeah, I would love one, actually. Dark roast?"

Stiles nodded his head and walked over to where the line of pots was. Each one had the symbol for Derek's father's coffee shop on it, and there was an espresso machine set up near it but turned with its back to Derek. That one had the same symbol and that this location was a proud brewer of Hale's Coffee.

Derek took the cup when it was offered, and he took a sip of it. He smiled as he tasted his favorite of his father's roasts.

"You looked shocked to see me in here."

"You said your shop, but I just assumed it was a tech business of some kind."

"Oh, no. I still do that. I have a small set of businesses in the area I do work for and a few from LA that I commute to for a few days a month unless they need 911 services. I didn't like doing that kind of stuff full time. I like having fun with it, so when I moved back to town, this place was for sale. I had enough money to buy it and knew enough about baking to keep it going. Most of the staff stayed on to help me transition, and I slowly replaced them."

Derek knew that Stiles had been back a lot longer than he thought, and he really wanted to have a conversation with his parents about that. Especially his father. He also knew that Stiles was nervous. Derek just wasn't sure what he was nervous about.

"I have this." Derek reached into his pocket and pulled out the car that Noah had given him.

"Ah, yes. You got that from one of Beacon Hills' finest, meaning that my father is a meddler. He won't admit to it, and probably neither would you." Stiles waved Derek toward a case, and there were doughnuts inside, at least what Derek thought were doughnuts. "Take your pick from the top four rows, and if you are sweet enough, I might let you get one from the other two racks."

A timer went off in the back, and there was the sound of it going away, and then after a few seconds, the smell of something sweet hit Derek. Sweet and nutty and full of cinnamon.

"What is that?"

"That is the pastry of the day. It's something new that we are trying. If you give me a few minutes, I can get you a sample of it."

"I want a whole one."

Stiles gave Derek a glare, but there was no heat in it. He sighed like it was the worst thing in the world and waved toward a table that didn't have someone sitting at it. Derek took that to mean he was dismissed. It was too easy. It was too much like old times. He disappeared into the back, and Derek settled at the table that he had been directed to. He looked at the coffee cup to see that it was the ones from his father's shop as well. He took a picture of it with his phone and sent it to his father. Making sure that the back of Aurora was in the shot and the painted window at the front. 

Derek watched as the little bubble popped up that told him his father was typing something. Then it stopped. A few seconds later, it picked up again, and it went for a minute before the message popped up. 

_I wasn't sure how to bring it up, and I didn't think anything of it, and then you were here, and your mother had told you that Stiles wasn't in town. I hadn't told her because she's always felt so strongly about everyone staying away. He came to me when he wanted to open the shop. Wanted to serve coffee but not all of the frilly stuff. He just does the drips and the few more popular flavors of lattes. It really doesn't cut into my business at all, and he buys all of his things from me, so I still have that revenue._

Stiles came out of the back with two plates in his hands and a drink cup smashed into his stomach. He set down one plate in front of Derek before using that hand to grab the drink and then set the other down as well. Stiles dropped into the seat across from him. Derek wasn't sure what was going on. He figured that Stiles would want nothing to do with him. 

"Here, tell me what you think." Stiles shoved the first plate over. It was a dessert of some kind that looked like a tart, but the crust was a little off. The filling looked really good, and the smell was heavenly.

Derek picked up the fork and cut it into the dessert, taking a good chunk of the crust and filling it with it. He opened his mouth and slid the bite inside. The crust nearly melted as soon as it hit his tongue, and he couldn't help the moan as the taste covered his taste buds. It was perfect, really. The filling was nutty and spicy but not too sweet, while the crust was the added need of sweet. 

"Almond flour?" Derek asked as the taste of almonds lingered in the back of his throat long after he had swallowed. He loved almonds and had been very glad for many gluten-free options appearing on menus in cafes and the like. It allowed him to indulge in his love of almond without having to get the same exact thing every single time. 

"Yes. We have a fair number of people in Beacon Hills that have Celiac or do better on a non-gluten diet, so it's something I want to expand on. Not just make the same thing that I have just gluten-free but a small menu of varied items that everyone will want and will be bought by those who want no wheat and those who it really doesn't matter alike. Yeah, I do a few of the more popular pastries in gluten-free but only one a day, and the schedule stays the same."

"So, you bake?"

"Oh, no, Not really. I try a few test batches of things and sample them out, but I have more experienced people making the bakery stuff. I just like running the front as much as I can. I can talk to people and still work on my tech stuff as I can. I like doing that, but I also like people."

Derek nodded his head because he knew that. There was a reason he loved hanging out at the station when he had been younger. Derek figured that Stiles did good at college, making friends, even if he was underage, to most of the kids who were going there at the time. Derek had been a loner until he had hit med school, and even those friends had just been to help each other get through it all. Derek hadn't kept in contact with anyone. He hadn't really kept in contact with anyone from Beacon Hills, either. 

"Hey, boss. Everything is made for the day, so we are going to head out," a voice said from the door. 

Derek turned to see that it was someone who looked to be around Cora's age. It had to be Boyd or Isaac.

"Yeah, that's fine. Have a good afternoon. We will sell until we run out today." Stiles waved at the man, and he left out the back."

"You run this alone?"

"Most days, yeah. We don't get rushes like other places. Even breakfast. It's more a stop and graze. These guys will wander out in about ten minutes, and then I'll be getting spotty customers until lunch. The next big hit is the afternoon slump. I'll probably sell more coffee than anything. It's a slow day of the week. That's why I have just a little bit of things made, and then from there, it's coffee."

The door chimed, and Stiles stood up, carrying his plate with him. He dropped it by the computer on the counter and greeted the customer. Derek watched him for an hour as he helped customer after customer while working at the laptop and drinking some kind of tea. Derek only knew it was tea from the bag that was hanging from the cup. Tea was one thing that his father didn't do on his own. He did buy from a store in town that blended their own, but that was as creative as it got at Hale Coffee House. Derek wondered if he could get a refill when he was done with the coffee and his pastry. He stood up and walked over to where Stiles was. Stiles was helping a customer, but he waved his hand at the air pot that the coffee was in, telling him to help himself. Derek walked over and filled his cup before going back to the table. He spotted a bookcase in the back as he looked at the alcove that he hadn't seen before. He walked over to it, leaving his cup there while he found a book to read. 

Derek didn't want to go home. Home meant his parents, and even though he knew that his father would have to deal with his mom and her anger at him not telling her about Stiles' bakery and the partnership, Derek didn't want to be around for it. Despite Stiles' words, the place wasn't empty until around nine. 

Stiles was deep in his work, typing away at something, and Derek enjoyed watching him. Unlike when he was younger, Stiles wasn't having an issue focusing. Derek had been around for the ADHD diagnosis and the times where the meds weren't enough and needed to be changed after that. His hands flew across the keyboard, but every little bit, he would pick up his tea and take a drink, then grab a bite of whatever he had beside him and then take another drink of tea. It was an interesting little ritual. 

The bell-ringing drew Stiles out of his work, and he grinned as he took in the red-headed woman at the door. He waved at her even though she was on the phone, and he moved to start making something. Derek watched him scoop something out of a tin and then drop it into a weird cup. He added hot water from a pot at the back before setting a timer. It was calming, watching Stiles' hands work at what had to be some kind of tea. The bell rang again, and Derek got to see his Uncle coming into the shop. Peter stopped in his tracks and frowned at Derek before looking at Stiles like he was trying to make sure that Stiles knew that Derek was there. 

"Nephew," Peter said as he walked over to the table where Derek was.

"Peter. It seems that my father isn't the only Hale who forgot to mention this little shop and its owner. At least Stiles' father gave me the idea to come here instead of me being shocked one day when I stumbled in after sugar."

"Yes, we all know about how much you love your sugar."

"Who is that with you?"

"That is Lydia, the newest intern at the office. She's going to be in my job one day and will be a hell of a lot scarier." 

"Here is your tea, Peter!" Stiles called out, and he slid over a cup. Next was another cup handed to Lydia before she pointed at three pastries, and Stiles bagged them up before handing them over.

"Charge Derek's ill-gotten gains to my account as well and a sweet for the little one." Peter walked over to where Aurora was coloring, and he settled on the chair beside her. It looked ridiculous with a grown man sitting in the chair made for a child, but he listened to Aurora as she talked about what she was drawing. He was attentive the entire time until Lydia ended her call and made a tutting noise. 

"Miss Lydia says it's time to go, Uncle Peter."

"Yes, and she just thinks that she's the boss, but I let her because she's smart." Peter stood up and ruffled Aurora's hair. He smirked at Derek and blew a kiss to Stiles before leaving. 

Stiles was walking over with a cookie for Aurora on a plate. He set it down with a kiss to the top of her head before he walked back over to his work. Stiles glanced at Derek, a confused look on his face before looking at his computer. He typed away for a few seconds before stopping. He grabbed his snack and drink and walked to Derek's table. 

"You didn't know that I was home?"

"No. Mom said that you visited, but that was it. It seems that Dad didn't tell her about his business arrangement with you. Nor does it seem that Peter told her anything. Though with Peter, it's his love of trolling her."

"You didn't want to come home if I was here. Why?" Stiles asked. 

Derek closed up the book he was reading and took a sip of his very cold coffee. He got up and refreshed it with new from a pot made not too long before. He sat down again and looked at Aurora. "This probably isn't the kind of conversation that we should have around her."

"Because we might fight?"

"I'm pretty sure you are going to yell and get pissed off." 

Stiles sighed and nodded his head. He stood up and walked into the back of the shop. Derek wondered if this was something that he really wanted to do. He could leave right now. Stiles would probably leave him alone, but he could just follow Derek home and yell at him there in all fairness. It wasn't like Stiles couldn't have figured out exactly where Derek lived, through legal means or getting into his father's computer at work, or having a deputy look for him. 

"I'm here to pick up a princess," a deputy said as the door to the bakery opened. 

Aurora looked up at him, and she grinned before she looked at the clock on the wall. "You are early."

"Yes, well, I was just finishing up a patrol through town and thought that your gramps might like a snack. Since I'm here, I might as well grab you too." 

"Fine." Aurora put upon a sigh that told Derek that she was humoring the man. 

Stiles came out of the back with a bag in his hand. It was rainbow-colored, just like the shirt that Aurora was wearing. 

"So how are you, Doctor Hale?" the deputy asked. He was looking at Derek like he was trying to decide if he needed to take Derek in for something. 

"Good, Deputy..." Derek knew that he knew the man, but he had found out that most deputies were the same, with a few aged out and new ones coming in to replace or just as the need for more grew. 

"Wilcox."

Derek swallowed. He had been one of the ones who dealt with Derek and any trouble that he got into post his break up with Stiles. The man had been fair and understood that Derek was lashing out. The man had been new to the force then and had little attachment to Stiles and the Sheriff, so it made sense that he was the one who was thrust into that role. Derek had been happy the man had arrested him any of the times. Yeah, he did let him stew in a cell all night once after calling his parents and telling them what he was doing. Derek could have ruined his life if it hadn't been for him. 

"I'm sorry that I didn't recognize you." Derek stood up to hold out his hand for the man to shake. Wilcox nodded his head as he shook back. 

"You were a hellion back then."

"Doctor Derek was?" Aurora asked.

Wilcox looked down at the girl at his side.

"Yeah, he was just as bad as your father back in the day. They were worse when they were together. We picked them up a lot when they were doing stupid stuff."

"Yeah, that's what Daddy says. He was a regular mischief-maker." 

"That he was. And I never did figure out if Doctor Derek here talked him out of more or egged him on."

"A little of both," Stiles answered as he exited the back again, this time with a box. "Dad's is in here just like always. A few days' worth if he puts them into the Tupperware that he has at the office for his treats."

"Thanks, Stiles. I'll drop her off when my shift is done later tonight at the Sheriff's if she doesn't go home with him."

"Thanks." 

Wilcox tipped his hat at Derek and then Stiles before turning to head out of the shop. Aurora was right beside him, chattering away at what she had been coloring and what she wanted to do when she got to the station. 

"She gets on the radio if nothing is going on and will talk to those on patrol. There is a specific channel for that just in case, and she's good about getting off as soon as something happens. She once talked for two hours about Little Bit, the pony who wanted to become a firefighter. She had a broken arm and was dealing with being stuck inside because it had been raining for two days. I went a little nuts and just left her at the station so I could have some peace and quiet, so she talked to the guys on duty for two hours until Dad got off of work." 

Stiles sighed, walked back over to the table, settled down into it, and looked at Derek. "So we are alone, at least for now. Talk. I know that you hate to do it. You like being the strong silent type, but you need to talk."

"How can you stand to have me here?"

"You mean in my shop? You are a customer. You don't treat customers like shit. I mean, this damned town stuck their noses into our business enough when we were kids. We don't need a thing with bows and the town being divided on who is on whose side."

"What?"

"Eh, that's a Gilmore Girls reference. I'm not shocked you didn't get it. Anyway, I can be civil to people that I hate. I serve everyone here, even the assholes who used to treat me like shit after they found out I like to suck cock. I can deal with one former best friend/ex who broke my heart." 


	5. Chapter 4

# Chapter 4

Derek wasn't sure what to say to what Stiles said. He knew that he needed to talk. He knew that he needed to do many things, but he just wasn't sure where to start. Derek and his sexuality were not on speaking terms, not really. He had ignored it all for so damned long. 

"What do you know about Paige and Kate?" Derek asked. 

"Paige, who died in a car wreck with you beside her when you guys were driving around town and got hit by a drunk driver?" Stiles asked.

"Yes. Her. I thought that I loved her. We had been dating for months. It was puppy love, or I don't know what. Afterward, I knew it wasn't real love. I was fucked up after that, even more than before I met her." Derek reached out and thumbed at the lid on his coffee. 

Stiles sighed and grabbed the cup from him. Derek frowned as Stiles walked away from the table; he went into the back and stayed there for a few minutes. He came back out with a large mug in each hand and stopped to fill up one with coffee from the pot that Derek was drinking. Stiles filled the second with tea from another pot like the one he had used to make Peter's tea. Derek watched him as he set the pot thing down on the mug, and the tea started to flow out of it. It was interesting to watch. Derek knew that Stiles liked tea. He had a weekly ritual of picking up tea from the place in town when they had been younger. Derek had gone with him all of the time to it. Coffee was sometimes too much in Stiles' teenage years for his ADHD to cope with. Tea had been something that Derek's father had turned Stiles onto. It gave him what he wanted as far as a little energy when he needed it, and it was something tasty drink. The sugar in soda had been a no-no since Stiles had started to act out due to ADHD. It had been Derek who had realized what was wrong with Stiles before anyone else. 

Derek watched Stiles clean out the teapot and then lay it on a drainer where a few others were. Derek noticed the canisters of tea as well. He looked at the menu that was up for the first time—seeing a good selection of teas there. He saw why Peter came to get the tea. He knew the name of Peter's favorite as Derek had been sent as a kid to pick it up more than once, especially after he had learned how to drive. Derek had gotten hooked on a few of the teas, and while away, his father had shipped them to him. Derek saw that his top three favorites were up there. Derek wondered at that. 

Stiles scooped out a tea from a canister into a larger pot, but he didn't add water to it, just set it near the pot with the hot water and then walked back to Derek. He set down Derek's cup and then drained his throwaway cup of tea before sitting down. 

"Thanks." Derek knew why Stiles had changed out Derek's cup. Derek traced his finger around the rim of the cup. A nervous habit that Derek had never been able to break. He liked to trace things. He remembered the last time he had traced the moles that dotted Stiles' body's skin. They hadn't gone that far outside of shirtless kissing, but afterward, Derek had laid beside Stiles on the bed and traced his moles while they watched TV until they heard Stiles' father coming home. 

"You are welcome." 

Derek was about to start talking when Stiles took a sip of the tea, and Derek realized it was one of Derek's favorites. It wasn't his top favorite, but it was close. It was a spicy chai that tasted like heaven when he drank it. 

"So, talk."

"I was afraid. I was afraid of many things, but at the top of the list was telling anyone that I liked guys and girls. I know that Beacon Hills was pretty accepting, and your father did a lot to make sure it was safe, but I didn't want anyone at school to bully me. That summer, it was like we were locked in our own world when we started that relationship. I wanted it more than anything in the world. Then school started, and I freaked out. I tried just to keep on going and hoped that it passed, but then we were almost caught."

"Just before your sister's Halloween party," Stiles said.

"Yeah." Derek lifted his cup and took a drink. The coffee was still good, and it helped to calm him. His father's coffee was a balm to his soul when he had been away from the family. He hated that he had gone so far for school, but he had wanted the best. His family had the money with the scholarships that he had gotten and the full ride for his pre-med schooling. It had made everything so much easier, in the long run, to just go to the best school for everything. 

"So instead of just telling me this, telling me that you weren't ready to come out, you humiliated me in front of everyone at that party and made them think that I had cheated on you."

"What?" Derek looked up at Stiles with that.

"Yeah, that's what went through most of the kids' minds at school. They assumed that at the party, me dancing with the girls was cheating, and I had hooked up with one of them in the rooms upstairs because I guess someone went sneaking and found my red hoodie in your room on the floor and thought I had taken it off for sex and then you found me down there with a girl. The idiots who were homophobes still sided with you, the basketball star, over me even though they hated that they were siding with a homosexual. Your team gave me the cold shoulder for months. The girls were pissed that anyone would cheat on you of all people. That's why I buckled down and started to take the exams to test out of so many classes. We all knew that I could have done that from the start, but I wanted to do high school with you. There wasn't much point in doing high school anymore when I didn't have any friends left. Without you to buffer, I was back to the weird spaz that no one liked and had broken the heart of the school's heartthrob. Paige was the only person who was nice to me. If you were out for any reason, she always told me what was wrong with you. She believed me when I told her that I hadn't cheated on you. Hell, she is the one who told me that you were guilty over it all but that even she couldn't make you do anything. Then she died in that wreck, and I had no one. Laura was already gone, and even though she wasn't ever mean to me, she didn't act like she had a bed.

"So yeah, Derek, your great plan worked well. You were out to everyone but yourself. I knew what it meant when you freaked out about Spencer. Hell, I knew that he was gay from the moment he got a crush on me and not any of the girls we brought over to study. Cora was a little more open about her liking of both males and females. You were wrapped up in yourself and didn't see it or didn't want to. So why were you so scared to come out to your family? They love you and would kill for you."

"Mom and Dad always talked about anyone who was the subject of anything horrible, but I don't remember them ever telling me that they would love me no matter what. I was afraid that it would hurt them. So I pushed myself to do what was needed to make sure that I could still be a part of the family. I looked back at it, and I think that when they talked about how brave some of those people were, they were trying to goad me into coming out to them without directly saying it."

"So, Kate. I assume you meant Kate Argent. That was junior year, right? Just before you turned seventeen?"

"Yeah. I was still reeling from Paige, and no one knew what to do with me. All I could think about was that if I had stayed with you, you wouldn't be hurt, and Paige would be alive. I kept on thinking about that. Then Kate came into town to teach. She attached herself to me. It made me feel like she wanted me. She was so good too. She didn't push me, at least when I didn't think that. She didn't make fun of me when I came in seconds after getting her hand on me the first time. Or the time that I came just from her lips brushing my cock. She made me feel like an adult. Then your father caught us, and he saw that I was naked, and she was nearly there with her skirt pushed up and no underwear on. She was on my lap." 

"The name of the kid was never released. The court was closed. Dad never told me, but there was something in her statement, and I knew that it was you. Dad told me that someone had hurt a kid I went to school with, and that was it."

"I didn't even look at it as anything bad until Med School and a few of the more advanced psychology classes for my psych education. I hated that they took her away; I didn't go to the courtroom to hear them talk bad about her. Then I looked up the court transcript. I wasn't the first that she had done it to. How do I rectify that with the woman that I loved? Who said she loved me and no one else. She said that I was her only one, she hadn't loved anyone as she loved me. I know now that it's the words of a predator. They don't tell you about people like that and how they act. They tell you about stranger danger even though most victims are hurt by someone they know. They don't tell you about adults preying on teenagers, not like that. It's always adults and kids."

"That's why dad changed what the cops in the county talk about at schools now. He learned how lacking it all was and was pissed off. It's started a big thing for the whole state, and I think last that Dad said it was spreading into Nevada."

"It's good that something is coming out of what happened. It took me years to see what had happened to me as something bad. She wasn't rough. She never hurt me. There is the stigma that rape is something bad that is violent and horrible. It's sexual assault, but it's the assault part that sticks. My lawyer talked about how that's why it's hard to prove rape if there are no wounds. That a woman or a guy lying there and trying to survive means that it's not rape. That's sick."

"Marital rape used to be something that wasn't even considered a crime. The woman married him, so he could do what he wanted. We've changed as a nation, but there is still a lot more growth that needs to be done." Stiles inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of his tea before he took a drink. 

The chime of the bell on the door had Stiles glancing over at it. He smiled and stood up, leaving his tea on the table. Derek didn't look at who came in. He ignored them as they ordered a coffee to do and a doughnut. Derek looked at Aurora's little area in the corner because it was evident that it was her office of sorts. There were kids, books, toys, coloring books, and even a chest of some kind. Derek stood up and walked over to clean up what Aurora had missed in her rush to get to the station. The chest was where the toys went, and Derek slipped them in there. The crayons were picked up and put back into their plastic holder. It looked strange to Derek, who was used to the cardboard box that always wore out before the crayons did. Yet it sealed up nicely and even had a little pocket on the table where it could slide down into it. He closed the coloring book and saw a sheet of paper that was laid out. There were three people on it. 

Derek knew that the one was Stiles with the red hoodie Derek hadn't seen him in yet but knew that he had. He wasn't sure that Stiles would ever grow out of it. Then there was Aurora and someone else. Derek wondered if that was Stiles' boyfriend until a closer look, and Derek saw the stethoscope around the neck. They were all holding hands and were smiling. Derek wondered what Stiles would think of the picture. It was a good drawing for someone Aurora's age. 

"Have a good day!" Stiles called out. 

Derek turned to watch the man who came in leave, and then it was just them again. It was nearing lunchtime, though. He was hungry but not enough to leave to get something just yet. He wondered what Stiles would do for lunch. 

"How are you feeling?" Stiles asked.

Derek looked at where Stiles was walking to sit down at the table again. He had another snack with him. It looked like a thumbprint cookie. Derek pulled out of his crouch and walked back to the table.

"Raw."

"The way you've talked...you've never really talked to anyone about this, have you?"

"No. No one ever knew. I never even told the therapist I went to see in college for med school about how I was bisexual. I thought that no one knew, and then I found out that Mom and Dad knew. Hell, your dad knew. It was all too much."

"So you pulled a Stiles and ignored it until it went away. Then you came in here."

"I miss you." Derek watched Stiles' face as he said the words.

"You miss the kid that I was. You don't even know me. You miss some ideal that you turned me into. The one that you let go not to have to deal with your issues because that's what you do. You push everyone away instead of asking for help."

Derek nodded. He knew that Stiles was still hurt. Derek was still hurt, and he was the one that had done the hurting. 

"I have Aurora, and I can't do that to her. I can't have someone in my life that will leave the first time that things get a little out of control. You have to stop blaming yourself for everything. Paige was not your fault. It could have still happened, and it might have been Paige and someone else, and they both might have died. It could have been a family of four, and the kids lose their parents. Playing that what-if game will just hurt you more in the long run. And you have to stop thinking that you deserved what happened with Kate because you hurt me, and you think that you caused Paige's death." 

Derek looked at Stiles, and he felt like his world had been ripped open. He had never told anyone that. He hadn't told his therapist, even though he was pretty sure that she had figured it out. Years later and Stiles knew him better than anyone else. 

"How?"

"You've changed in a few ways, Derek, but not in anything that matters. You still take on the world of pains and think it's your fault, just like when I broke my arm because you didn't catch me when I tripped on air that one time. You blamed yourself and stayed away for two weeks. I had to go to your house and drag you out by your ear to come to my place to play games." 

"Mom laughed so hard." 

Derek remembered that. He knew that he took on too much guilt. It was part of why he was afraid of becoming a doctor, but he could compartmentalize patients better than he was his friends and family.

The door chimed, and Derek looked up to see who came in this time. It was the Sheriff. He looked at the two of them with a little bit of wariness in his eyes. 

"I haven't killed him," Stiles said.

"I can see that. Wilcox said that you two were a little friendly. I was afraid you had drugged him."

"I would never!" 

"Get caught at it," Derek said.

Stiles gasped and looked at Derek in mock horror. "Well, I see what you think of me."

"Like you are the best thing in the world." 

Stiles' face shuttered off a little bit, and Derek knew that he had said the wrong thing, but he wasn't going to take it back. 

"I need more of those card things for the station. I handed out the last to my guys when I sent them off on patrol."

"Oh, sure. I have ones for Hale's as well. He saw a deputy handing one out at that accident a few weeks ago and loved the idea, so he sent me the template that he made up for his and told me to print off as many as I did when I sent it in. It's for a small of whatever it is, but it's better than nothing. Especially for those who might need that kind of pick me up. Hold on." Stiles disappeared into the back. Derek wanted to follow. He wanted to see what the kitchen area was like, but he didn't want to invade an area he hadn't been invited into.

"How are you, Son?" Noah asked as he walked over to sit down in Stiles' empty seat at the table. 

"I'm not going to say good because I feel like I might vibrate out of my skin in nerves, but I think I'll be okay."

"That's good. He only hated you for a few years. He doesn't trust you. I can tell you that, not with his life other than being a good doctor for Aurora." 

"That's better than him not trusting me even with that. I was shocked he didn't demand a new doctor when he saw who was treating her."

"You would never let someone else hurt because of you not liking someone, Son. We all know that. You could probably treat Kate Argent just fine if you were the only option for her. You wouldn't make it painless, but you would do it. You are too selfless for that. You can't fake that kind of stuff."

"Here you go, Daddio!" Stiles said as he exited the back. He had a small box in his hand. There were top labels on the top, and Derek saw that it was of each of the cards that were in the box. "Double the size for double the cards." 

Noah laughed and pulled Stiles in for a hug after he stood up. When he passed by Derek, he clasped him on the shoulder. "You boys, please don't make me or my deputies come out for a noise violation."

"He's been here for hours, Dad; if that were going to happen, it would have been when he entered the shop with the card that my father gave him."

Noah laughed and raised up both hands with a grin on his face. He left without saying another word. 

"So, what's your favorite MCU movie?" Stiles asked as he dropped down into the seat again.


	6. Chapter 5

# Chapter 5

Derek slipped his phone into his pocket after ending the call with Laura. He opened the door to The Moon's Spark and listened for the chime. He looked at the pastry case to see how much was left. It was one of the busier days, so it was usually well stocked before the kitchen staff left for the day in the afternoon. It was still pretty full, so Stiles wouldn't be shutting down anytime soon. 

Stiles wasn't at the counter, but his laptop was there, along with a notepad and a steaming cup of tea. Derek walked up to pick up the tea and smelled it. It was an herbal tea. It was one that Derek liked okay of the blends that Stiles had in the shop, but it wasn't one of his favorites. 

Stiles' sound moving around in the back told Derek that Stiles had not heard him. Derek settled the food down on the counter and then slipped through the double doors that swung both ways. Stiles was nowhere to be seen. He looked and found the only door open and walked to it. Stiles was messing with a paper file, and Derek saw that it was labeled receipts-unpaid. So Stiles had just got a delivery of some kind. Derek leaned in the door and just watched him as he straightened the desk a little bit for a few minutes.

The chime from the bell sounded, and Stiles turned around in the chair and stood up. His eyes drew up Derek's body before his brain registered that someone was there. Stiles screamed and reached out to punch. Derek caught his fist easily and smiled as Stiles registered who was there. 

"You fucking asshole!" Stiles slung his other hand out and slapped Derek on the side of his arm. Derek laughed.

"You have a customer. It's not my fault you didn't hear me come in."

"You didn't say anything. I would have heard that." Stiles jerked on his hand, and Derek let it go before stepping back to let Stiles leave the office to take care of his customer. 

Stiles glared at him as he passed before walking to a walk-in refrigerator and pulled out a box. Derek followed behind to see that it was a cake. 

"Ah, there you are. Sorry for interrupting dinner," the older man said, who was standing at the counter. He had his wallet already out and a few bills in his fist. 

"Dinner? I'm not-" Stiles stopped when he saw the boxes from his favorite Chinese place on the counter. "I'm not eating yet. I was taking care of a delivery. That's why I told you to come when you did instead of in the middle. The driver likes to not do his job, and I have to watch him to make sure that he drops the cold thing in the fridge, the frozen in the freezer, and the dry goods in the back room. He'll pile it all in the room if he's left alone."

"Complain."

"I have, and I made sure that they replaced what he had dropped off, but he's the kid of a guy in the company hierarchy somewhere, and so things just get written off. If a company had the things I wanted for roughly the same price, I would swap in an instant. I look at things every few months." Stiles held out his hand, and he took the money before ringing up the cake in the register. Derek looked at the total and then what Stiles typed in before Stiles pulled out the change, slipping that into the tip jar. "Strawberries and cream cake for your anniversary. Make sure you guys finish it off tomorrow before the end of the day, or I can't promise that the strawberries will be any good. Have a good night, Mister Crowley."

"You too, Stiles. This is the highlight of tomorrow. Too much family running around and making my life a mess. Makes the husband happy, so it's worth it." Mister Crowley tipped the hat on his head before he grabbed the cake box and turned to head out the door. 

"So, you brought me dinner?" Stiles asked as he poked at the bag like it would bite him.

"No, I brought us dinner."

"Us. Like we are going to eat together?" Stiles asked.

"Yes. I know that Aurora has her movie night with your father today, and tomorrow he's off, so they are going shopping. She told me all about it after school the other day when I picked up doughnuts on my way into work."

"Yes, she's good at talking and talking. Reminds me of someone I know well." Stiles was smiling as he said it. 

"She really is. I don't even have to pump her for information. She just goes on and on." Derek picked up the food and walked over to the table nearest the counter that had become his table. It wasn't anything official as Derek had come in before, and someone was there. Derek kind of liked it when that happened. Stiles usually allowed him to pull up a stool to the end of the counter, where he was out of the way, and sit there while he worked. 

Stiles followed him over. There weren't going to be many people in and out for the next while. Not until the plant let out a few miles down the road, and the workers stopped in to hang out a little before going home. Decaf coffee, herbal tea, and water were what they ordered. Derek had been in once before when they had come in. Stiles didn't care about staying open for them as they drank a lot, ate a lot, and paid handsomely for somewhere to sit and talk without having to go to a bar or a diner.

After game nights, the referees in the area did the same thing. Derek kind of liked that Stiles had found a place to open that made him a little bit more part of the city that had little to do with his father. Derek knew that school hadn't been the greatest for Stiles as everyone assumed he would tell his dad about things that happened that were illegal, like drinking. It had got worse after Derek had stopped being friends with him. It was just another reason Stiles had run for the hills as soon as he could. 

"What did you get?" Stiles asked as he started to pull out containers from the bag. There were a lot of them, but then Derek had kind of got everything that he knew Stiles liked in case something wasn't what he liked anymore.

"Beef on a stick," Derek said as he handed over the bag with the treats in them. Stiles hummed and pulled out a stick before licking off the drip of juice that tried to escape. He ate what looked like half of that stick in one go before he chewed and started to open every box in front of him. 

"You know it's just you and me, not you and me and a team of basketball players, right?"

"I wasn't sure what you liked anymore, and I figured that leftovers could be left here, so you actually eat lunch."

Stiles stuck his tongue out at Derek with a grin on his face. Derek raised his hand, and Stiles pulled his tongue back into his mouth with a glare. "Don't even think about it, asshole." 

"Why not? It's not like we haven't done it before."

Stiles just kept on glaring for a few more seconds before he laughed. He finished off his beef on a stick before grabbing the second out of the bag. Derek ate both of his as quick as he could. 

They didn't talk as they ate, with Stiles eating a little of everything before declaring himself full. 

"I might not be able to move at all," Stiles said as he patted his belly. 

"You'll be fine." Derek picked up the tea cup that Stiles had fetched for him and took a sip. 

"How did things go between the parents?" Stiles asked. 

The whole thing about Stiles being back in town and buying coffee supplies from Derek's father had come to a head when Stiles had come to pick up his order for the month when Derek's mom had come into the shop. It had carried them in a fight all the way home.

"Oh, Uncle Peter was home, and that meant that he turned into an asshole, and by the end of it all, Mom was more made at him than Dad, so it worked out well. I think she's still a little bitter that it seemed like the whole family knew except for her. She pouts a little when she eats anything that dad brings from here to her." 

"She loves the thumbprint cookies that we do in any flavor, just in case you need something to butter her up. I bring a dozen to your dad when I pick up things from him. I know that he doesn't charge me what he should to make much money off of me, but I can't make him, and I have tried."

"Dad loves you. They all do." 

"Hey, you were a stupid kid; you have got to stop blaming yourself. It happened; it can't be changed." Stiles reached out and rested his hand over Derek's. He smiled at Derek and didn't let go of his hand. Derek moved his fork to his other hand to finish up dinner. When Derek was done, he drained his tea and turned his hand in Stiles' to be palm to palm. He gripped wrapped his fingers around the sides of Stiles' hand and rubbed his pointer finger across Stiles' wrist. It was something they had done a long time ago when studying at the same table but across from each other. It was a touch that grounded them both. 

"Derek," Stiles said, and his voice broke a little. 

"I know that we've changed. I know that I hurt you, but I have seen this part of you here; I want him. Please give me another chance?" Derek asked. 

"I don't-" Stiles swallowed and looked down at their hands that were still linked together. He didn't look too upset, just out of his depth. "I don't know. I thought we were working towards friends again. You've not brought up anything else over the last three months since that first day here."

"If friends are all I am ever going to get, that's fine. But can we try?"

"I don't think that I could take you breaking my heart again, Derek. I don't think I could survive it again. I've not had a relationship since you."

"What?" Derek asked. 

"People asked. I tried to date a few times when I turned eighteen at college, but I just never...I never wanted anyone like I wanted you. It was stupid to compare, but if they were never going to be better than the first love of my life, what the hell am I doing with them? So I just didn't do anything. I focused on schooling and then Aurora. It's easy to forget about things like dating and sex when you have a kid just after getting your degree and trying to find a good job." 

Derek looked at Stiles. He knew that he wasn't lying. That wasn't how Stiles was, but this was something that Derek hadn't even thought about. He assumed that Stiles had moved on from him. Derek had, and kind of hadn't at the same time. He wasn't sure what he wanted at all. To have Stiles be alone for all of that time or to have gone from guy to guy, never thinking about Derek. The happy medium would be best; Stiles had a few good relationships, a few bad, none that had been too bad. This was something different. 

"I've not dated at all since I got back home. I just...A few of the people around our age still just look at me like I am scum or something beneath them. The ones who actually know what went on are happily married. Or unhappily divorced, or even happily divorced after you know high school sweethearts didn't work out. I think a few of the dates I've been asked out on are pity or some woman trying to be a mother to Aurora to soothe the raging beast of a father that I am with her womanly touch." 

Derek snorted at that, and the little smile on Stiles' face told him that it was why Stiles had said it the way he had. It wasn't like Derek didn't know that it was true. He had been around for that when it came to the Sheriff. The women who tried to tell him that Stiles needed a mother's touch or he was going to be a wild thing with no care for women. Stiles had more than once claimed that he had more than enough mothers in his life, with his mother being dead and his best friend's mother stepping in to soothe those rough edges even though Stiles was pretty sure that Mrs. Hale was more badass than his father. Usually, Noah chimed in that he was pretty sure that Talia Hale could kick his ass and then still patch him up when she was done.

"And they don't believe you when you say you are gay?" Derek asked.

Stiles shrugged. "More than a few think that I had a bad experience or that my mother's death is what makes me think that. Others think that I am playing some kind of game. Though that was mostly back in LA. Here it's not so bad. They just don't think that I would care as long as my daughter gets a mother out of it." 

"People are idiots."

"Yes, but please don't say that in front of Aurora. She'll start to call them that to their face, and I already have enough issue with her speaking her mind."

"Ah, yes. I heard the deputies talking about that with each other the other day. She laid into someone who was trying to make someone else do something they didn't want to do, right?"

"Yes. Aurora heard a guy trying to pressure another guy into sex. Thankfully she didn't quite get that part, but she heard the one say no, and then the other tell him that he would have fun. Before I could snag her as I talked to someone else, she rushed off laid into the one guy for not pressuring anyone into anything. She went about a story about her friend who didn't like cherries, but her friend made her eat them, and they got sick, and wouldn't they be upset if his friend got sick."

"Yeah, your father's curse worked well on you having a kid just like you." 

Stiles laughed at that. It was a full-bellied laugh that dispelled a good bit of the negative energy from the last little bit. He rolled his hand to have Stiles' pressed down into the table, and he started to trace his finger and palm. Stiles' eyes looked down at the hand and sighed as he watched Derek touching him. 

"I hate you," Stiles said. There was no heat to it, and it sounded more like a protestation than a statement of fact.

"No, you don't."

"I kept on hoping that during freshman or sophomore year, you would change your mind. You would come to me and tell me that you had made a mistake, but then I wasn't aware of what you were really freaked out about. I didn't know that you were that out of touch with everyone around us. I'm sorry that you were so scared, and I didn't notice it."

"No." Derek leaned forward, his hand going up to Stiles' forearm and holding him at his elbow. His plaid shirt sleeves were pushed up to above his elbows for easy washing of his hands when dealing with the food. "No, you don't have to blame yourself for that."

"No, I really should. I am a smart and observant man, even back then, and I never noticed how scared you were, Derek. I'm not blaming myself for all of it, but there is a part that rests on me. Thinking back over the last while, knowing why you did it. I can see the moments you were too hesitant, and I just took it that you were worried about what I was going to do, not that you were worried about people seeing us, people finding out. We both kind of failed each other with that relationship back then, and it's not a wonder that things ended. I forgive you."

"Stiles."

"You can't control if I forgive you." Stiles stood up from the table, but he didn't dislodge Derek's arm from his arm. He walked around and used that arm to tug Derek up to where they were standing in front of each other. "It's my forgiveness to give, and I give it to you. You just have to learn to forgive yourself because we can't start anything until you do. I know this was a date, it was something low key and simple, but you came with the intention of us being on a date. You need to forgive yourself for the pain that you caused. You were young and ill-equipped to deal with everything that was going on at that part." 

"I-" Derek was going to say that he couldn't. He couldn't forgive himself for giving up the one thing in his life that he had wanted more than anything else. He had the chance, though, to have it back now. He could reach out and take, but first, he had to let go. First, he had to heal. "I'll try."

"Good. That's all that I ask. You know where to find me most days. I'll be here with Aurora and sometimes other people. I mean it, though, Derek Hale. There will be no out of this place dates or anything like that until you are surer of yourself and stop beating yourself over the head for something that's well into the past." 

"Of course, but that doesn't mean I can't bring you food here, and we eat, right?" Derek inched closer to Stiles, rubbing his cheek against his. He wrapped his arms around Stiles' waist and held him tight. It felt too damned good, but Derek knew not to let himself get carried away. 

"Once a week for bringing me a meal that we eat together like this. You can come in otherwise as much as you want. It's not like you don't have a tab anyway." Stiles pulled back a little, looking Derek in the eye. He searched for something, and Derek wasn't sure what it was. Stiles closed his eyes and tipped his forehead to rest on Derek's. His arms wrapped around Derek's neck, and they stayed like that for several minutes. "I had better get dinner cleaned up. You get to pick two things to take with you."

"I get to pick two things? Me? What if I said you get to pick two?" Derek asked. He didn't open his eyes or lean back from Stiles at all. 

"Then, I would say that you forget the rules of the house that what's on my table is mine." 

Derek laughed and hugged Stiles tighter with that. It had been a rule of Stiles' house that things left on the kitchen table were Stiles' until he decided to give them back, but it usually was food, and he got his pick of what he liked first, and everyone else got the leftovers. It was usually Derek and his younger siblings that were in that group. It had been turned around for Derek's house, but it had been a highlight of growing up. Bartering for things that they wanted that someone else had. It had taught the younger ones a big lesson on how to play it cool on things that they really wanted to make sure that someone didn't take it just to spite them. Stiles was a big enough asshole to do it too.

"I've missed you so much, Stiles. During med school, there were so many things that I learned that I wanted to pick up the phone and text you or call you so you could be freaked out at the same time as me or be in wonder."

"I had that in college too. I started a letter once that I wrote out. Then I transferred it to a notebook, and I still have it. It's on my bedside, full of everything over the years that I've wanted to share with you. When we go on our first real date, I'll give it to you, and you can read over it."

"I wish I would have thought about that." Derek finally opened his eyes and looked at Stiles. "Why did you do it?"

"I knew that we would find ourselves again at some point. Our families were still tied here in Beacon Hills, and we would both come home to roost at some point. I wasn't sure, but I felt like at some point I knew we would get back together when whatever had happened had been fixed."

"I hate that I hurt you. That guilt will take longer to get rid of. I watched you from the sidelines for a while, trying to make sure that you didn't do anything stupid. That you weren't going to hurt yourself on accident with your grief. I had to stop because it was killing me not to take you back into my arms. I hate what I did, but I was too scared to take you back."

Stiles hugged Derek fiercely, and he tucked his head onto Derek's shoulder as they stood there for a few minutes. A timer went off, and Derek let go of him. Stiles walked over to start to make a large pot of tea for the workers who would be coming in. Derek tidied up the table, picking his two things and slipping them into one of the bags before he packed up the rest and walked into the kitchen to put up in the employee food fridge. He saw a box with his name on it in Stiles' area. There were names on everything, but Stiles had his own shelf to stick things in there without labeling them for various things as even though he was the one who implemented this, he forgot sometimes. Derek picked up what had his name on it and was about to open it when he thought better of it. It was something that Stiles wanted him to have, so Stiles could give it to him when he was ready.

Walking back out into the main section, Derek wandered to the table to find that Stiles had cleaned up the rest of the way, so Derek was free to curl up in a chair in the corner and start to read in the new book. Or watch as Stiles took care of the customers, and if that one happened more than the reading, no one needed to know.


	7. Chapter 6

# Chapter 6

"Doctor Derek?" the voice asked over the phone. 

"Aurora?" Derek looked at the caller ID before putting the phone back to his ear. He didn't recognize the number. It was a Beacon Hills landline number; he knew that. It had to be either Stiles' house or The Moon's Spark. Derek had never talked to Stiles except for on his cell phone.

"Daddy's not talking to me."

"Aurora, what's wrong?" Derek was pretty sure that she wasn't calling to tell him that she and her father were in a fight. Now when she sounded as scared as she did. Derek got up off of his couch and looked around for his keys. He pocketed them and grabbed his jacket next to slip on. The December weather was just chilly enough that he needed a jacket. That it was his leather jacket and Stiles looked at him with a little lust in his eyes was more than worth the days where it was a little too warm for him. 

"I got here from school, and daddy is in his office, and he's bloody, and he's not talking to me, and I don't know what to do."

"Just stay on the line. Don't hang up." Derek stopped in his tracks and turned around to look for the cordless phone. He found it on the table where he had left it the day before after getting a call from the hospital. He picked it up and dialed Noah's direct line. He knew that he was working, and he didn't want to have to deal with the dispatcher. Derek put his cell on speakerphone and hoped that him talking to Noah didn't freak out Aurora too much, or at least more than what she was feeling now.

"Stilinski," Noah answered.

"There is something wrong at Moon's. Aurora is there and bloody, and she can't get Stiles to answer. I have no clue what is going on, but I'm heading there. You are closer." 

"Fuck, I'll head there now with a few deputies. We've had three places broken into at night lately in the area, so Stiles upped his security."

Derek knew that, but he didn't say it. 

"I have Aurora on the cell, and this is my landline. I'm going to hang up with you and keep her talking until I hear you arriving, Noah."

"Thank you. I don't know why she didn't..." Noah trailed off and sighed. "I've been on patrol, and I was in that dead space where no matter what the cell phone companies do, there is no signal there. She probably called me when I was there and then you."

Derek heard a weird groan, and he turned back to his cell phone. There was the sound of pain over it. Stiles was waking up. "Noah, Stiles is waking up, and he sounds like he's in pain."

"My partner for this ride has already called an ambulance. You go ahead and hang up with me and worry about Aurora."

"I will." Derek hung up and kept his cell on speaker. He ran out the door, tossing the cordless phone toward the couch before he slammed the door shut. He could barely remember the drive from his house to Moon's. Aurora talked to him about what Stiles was doing, and Derek made sure she knew how brave a girl she was. 

There were three cruisers and an ambulance there when Derek pulled up. Aurora had left the phone lying on the desk even after she had been removed from the room so the EMTs could help Stiles, who, while he was awake, was out of it. His blood pressure and everything was checking out just fine. Derek only hung up when he got out of the car. Noah was standing at the edge with Aurora in his arms. She was sobbing and had her face buried in his neck. Noah moved his head over toward the door, and Derek went inside. He saw the deputies looking at things. Instead of breaking anything, there was nothing out of place. It looked like one deputy was having trouble with the register. 

"Gloves," Derek said as he stopped by the woman. She held out a pair that she grabbed from a box that was on the counter. Derek slipped it on and typed in the code to open the drawer. Stiles had reprogrammed the register, breaking the warranty but making it fucking harder for someone to just hit cash tend and open the drawer. "That looks like about what he usually has at this time of day. For large orders, most of today are put on a tab that is paid at the fifteenth. I'd call Erica Reyes as she can help more with that. I know that Stiles has cameras set up, but they run off of his laptop, and I don't see it."

"Our tech guy already has it, but he's afraid to even attempt to get into it."

"Password for most everything that is business-related, as well as getting onto it is ClaudiaNoahAuroraDerek!0ve. Names are all capitalized, but the rest are lowercase."

"Thanks. The Sheriff didn't know that."

"He doesn't do anything with the business. Stiles' other business stuff is on a different partition, and he has that locked down more, so as long as your tech guy only touches the cameras, it will be fine. He will have to keep it here, though. It won't work unless it's on the secure WiFi here." 

"He's in his car outside. I'll go out and talk to him." The deputy shut the register and used a hand to wave at the guy who was getting prints to dust it next." 

"Just for safety's sake, Doctor Hale. When did you get off of shift?"

"I'd been home for about an hour. I went in early to cover for another doctor whose wife went into labor three weeks early. I clocked out and went home and showered, and I was getting ready to grab a snack before heading to the coffee shop to take Stiles and Aurora to a movie." It would have been the first time that they had gone out in public together, but it was because Aurora wanted to see the movie with Derek and not just her father. Derek had made sure that Stiles was fine with that before he had agreed. Stiles had been. 

Derek looked up as he heard movement from the back. Stiles was on a gurney with blood all over his face. It had been cleaned from his eyes, but that was about it. Derek walked over when the EMTs stopped, and Stiles looked at him. Derek knew from the way that Stiles was that he had a concussion. The cut on his head was bleeding pretty bad, and there was a rather large goose egg. He looked horrible. 

"Hey," Stiles said. His eyes were not focusing well. 

"Hey. You know you didn't have to go to all of this to get out of our movie night. You could have just said." Derek smiled as he said it because he would cry if he did anything else.

"That's my kind of line. Aurora's okay, right?"

"Yeah. She's with your dad. I'm sure she'll be well entertained at the station until you can handle having her visit you. I'm going to the hospital with you, and I won't take no for an answer."

"Wasn't gonna fight that. Want something pretty to look at." Stiles closed his eyes and groaned. 

"Go," Derek said, looking at the first EMT.

"You got it, Doctor Hale. Did you want to ride with us? I've got a newbie, and I would rather drive."

"Sure." Derek knew that he would work Stiles' case, no matter that he was Peds. He was too close, but he could help make sure that nothing bad happened to Stiles in the ambulance. Derek followed behind the gurney and looked for Noah when he made it outside. Derek waved toward the ambulance and then handed over the keys to his car as soon as he found a close deputy with a word to give them to whoever would drive his car to the hospitals for him to pick up later. Derek shook his phone at Noah before he slipped into the ambulance. As soon as they were settled and starting to leave, Derek texted his father. He had few friends who could deal with the damage that Derek knew happened to the office. He had heard the deputies talk about how trashed it was. His father would also know how to get new bits of whatever Stiles would need to get going again. He asked his father to help run it as well. Derek knew that only Erica knew how to run the front of the house, and she only did it a little and helped bake to make up for the rest of her hours that she worked while going to college. Derek never asked why she was still in college when most people her age were graduated. She didn't offer, and he wasn't going to ask. 

Derek listened to the vitals as they were rattled off, holding Stiles' hand as he typed one-handed on his phone. Stiles groaned when they went over a bump, and Derek frowned. Stiles' head hadn't moved at all. Derek looked down his body to see if anything looked out of place. He saw a wet patch on Stiles' jeans and looked behind him for the scissors he knew were in a bin close to them. He found them and cut up Stiles' leg. 

"Better radio ahead that we have a fracture to the leg, and I am unsure if it's compound or not, but there is blood in the area. It could be from the impact that broke it or the bone tearing skin, and I don't want to find out right now." Derek looked at the injury and sighed. Stiles would have to have an X-ray before he had anything else done to check for other bone breaks. He might even have to have surgery for what was done to his leg. 

"You got it," the driver said. 

Derek couldn't remember their names, but he knew he had seen them in the ER before. During mass causalities from wrecks and the like, Derek would go down and help. He was trained in trauma for both adults and children. He wanted to work in a hospital ER like he did for a reason. He liked Peds, but he wanted to help, so he straddled the line. He wanted to help where help was needed but loved working with the kids. 

The ER was a flurry of activity as the room was prepared for Stiles to get his X-rays so that they could figure out what was going on. There was already a surgeon in the room waiting for the films to be ready to look at. Derek tried not to hover, but he knew that he wasn't doing a good job. Everyone in the hospital knew who Stiles was to Derek. Stiles had been coming by sometimes with coffee and treats for Derek when he was working weird shifts or just when Stiles wanted to see him. Things had been slow between them, but then Derek knew that it would be. With Derek seeing someone and for the first time ever telling a therapist everything about high school and everything that followed. 

"He'll be fine," Nurse McCall said.

"I know. I'm just worried about that break. He's not good at being still at any given point in time. The concussion will make it hard for him to move around on crutches until it's healed enough. He doesn't do well with them. He's already a little tetchy from his ADHD, and so his body doesn't respond right to a few things and then throw in the concussion, making him a little off. The last time he had one as a teenager, the room spun for a week if he walked straight forward. He had to turn to the side and side shuffle not to have it spin. He can't do that with crutches." 

"Seems like he's going to need you then to help him. Plant him at work on a stool and have one for his leg, and he'll be fine. He's one of the ones that need to do something. Even if you take away the laptop, give him paper to work on. Bills or a crossword."

"Sudoku," Derek said. He had seen the books scattered all around in the shop. At least seven at any given point in time as Stiles moved them from place to place and left them and hated to really look for them. The others who worked there always put them back by the register or the office. Derek had even bought one for his house, and it was on the coffee table along with the same kind of pen that Stiles used to do it. Derek tried not to think too hard on that when Stiles hadn't been over to his house. He hadn't been to Stiles' house either though part of that was Derek not wanting to. It seemed Stiles had moved into a house that was right beside the Sheriff. The family who had lived there had moved away and offered the house to Stiles when the Sheriff had mentioned that Stiles wanted to move home with his daughter. According to him, it had been sold on the private market, and Stiles had probably paid too little for it. 

"It's a clean break, and the blood and broken skin are not from the bone," Doctor Dunbar said as he looked at Derek. The words drew Derek out of his thoughts, and he replayed them in his head so he could understand what he was saying. 

"Good."

"We will get it set and then stitch him up and check out that head. I'm glad I don't have to have Ortho go in and work on him that way. He's young enough and active enough that he'll heal up just fine, Derek."

"Thanks." Derek pulled out his cell phone and texted Noah. He just about had the message typed out when he heard Noah's voice. 

Derek stepped around the door frame to look at the ER center. Stiles had been moved to a private room to limit the noises. Waving caught Noah's attention. 

"Deputy Parrish has Aurora talking to her about what she saw, and then he's going to bring her here. The security feed is enough to arrest all three. Their faces were on camera the entire time. Stiles refused to give up the code to the safe. I thought at first he was just bluffing, but he was right. There wasn't anything in there except for licensees, and the safe is fireproof. Everything he would need to get the place going again if it burned down."

"Yeah. He takes all cash to the bank every single night when he closes the place down, or Erica does if she's closing. Since it's just at the other end of the block, they walk it."

"Aurora yelled for him, and that was when they took off before they could get him to pop open the register, but then they would have got so very little. Maybe three hundred dollars. He doesn't take in a lot of cash today, so it would just be what is in the register to start and what he made. Today is standing order day and people with tabs for the most part."

"Of course, you know what he should have in there. Aurora tells me you are there nearly every single day, even if it's only long enough for a drink before work or a tea on your way home if you are tired."

"We talked, Sir. As I am sure, he told you."

"Yes, but he doesn't tell me a lot, just that things are going well. My deputies have seen you come out of Doctor Morrell's office, though, and told me that."

"He wants me to let go of the guilt from what I did. Which is easier said than done."

"It always is. He knows that guilt is not a useless emotion and that not having it is something to be worried about, but he hates useless guilt. You did what you did because you thought you did what was best for you. Yes, it hurt him, but he knows that you wouldn't do it if you knew what you know now."

"He had told me time and again that I am the only one in the world who can talk around a problem and get even a trained psychologist to not realize what was really going on. I did this in med school after an issue came up on a paper that I turned in. I was forced to see someone. I talked about everything but what I did to him." 

"Sheriff, Derek, you can go inside," Nurse McCall said.

Derek tried not to rush into the room where Stiles was, but it was a near miss. Stiles was in a T-shirt and a pair of shorts. He moved too much for a gown; Derek had known that for years. He always nearly choked himself when he was asleep if he was in one. Derek realized after looking that the T-shirt wasn't one of the scrub top like ones that they used in the hospital but Derek's from his locker. He looked at Nurse McCall, and she just gave him a smile. 

"Hey," Stiles said as he turned his head toward them a little bit. He had an IV in his arm, and Derek glanced to see what was going in him, and it was just the standard for infection and pain as well as saline. 

"Stiles, how are you?" Noah asked.

"Good. Wanna take my statement?" 

"I have a recorder here for it. If they need more, they will get it later. Parrish will type this up since technically I shouldn't be doing this, but the guys and gals all think that I would do best given your state at the moment."

"Where's Rora?" 

"Parrish talking to her about what the place looked like when she came in. She scared them off."

"Good. I was kind of out of it, and I wasn't sure if I heard her, or I imagined that I did. The one guy who was the ring leader said that he didn't want to get into trouble for touching a kid. I think I blacked out from the pain at that point."

"I saw the baseball bat was what was used on your leg but your head?"

"That metal clipboard case thing that I have that I keep the standard orders in so it's easy to clean if it's set down in flour like seems to happen every single week. I'm cold." Stiles pouted a little and slowly moved on the bed, wincing as he pulled on his leg. 

Derek moved to grab the leg and gently move it over before he toed off his shoes. He knew exactly what Stiles wanted, and it wasn't a heated blanket. Derek climbed into the bed into the small area that was open and reached behind to pull up the side so he could relax without falling off. He laid his arm over Stiles' stomach and pressed against his side. The blanket was next, thanks to Noah. It wasn't one of the heated ones, just a simple sheet to hold in their heat. 

"So warm." It was the same thing that Stiles said time and again when Derek cuddled him when he was cold. 

Derek listened as Noah questioned Stiles until the doctors came to set Stiles' leg and get it braced up. With the wound on the shin, it wasn't going to get a cast. The leg wound might even need stitches to heal with the brace. Once it was cleaned and everything was good, the ER's head would decide that. Derek knew that he would take the case just because it was Derek's sort-of boyfriend as well as the Sheriff's son. 

It wasn't long before Derek was back in bed with Stiles, and Derek was tired. He laid his head on Stiles' shoulder and let himself drift off as Stiles did as well under the heavier meds. His head scans showed no swelling, and his eyes were fine, and while they couldn't check his walking, the rest of him seemed fine. Stiles woke up every time Derek moved in the night, grumbling about bad blankets. It was almost too much and too close to how it used to be for Derek, but he stayed, afraid that he had fallen even harder in love with Stiles. 


	8. Chapter 7

# Chapter 7

"Derek!" Aurora screamed as she rushed down the stairs. She stopped at the foot of them and frowned at the look of Derek still in his pajamas. "I'm going to be late."

"No, you aren't. My dad is going to take you to school today. I'm too tired to drive safely. He said that he didn't mind taking you every day when school picks up again. Now go, or you won't have time to stop at Moon's and get something for breakfast." 

"Bye, love you!" Aurora yelled as she made for the door. It opened and then shut with a little bit of a slam. 

Derek chuckled and took a sip of the herbal tea he had in his hand. He looked at his house taken over by Stiles and Aurora in the past two weeks. Stiles couldn't drive with his leg broken, so Derek and his parents moved them into his place. Derek had a guest bedroom on the ground floor, which would be perfect for Stiles, while Aurora took over the guest room up on the second floor. Someone was always around with Peter working from his home office on the days Stiles stayed home. He was only allowed into work three days a week, and it wasn't like Derek could get four days off each week. Peter gladly worked from home. Peter had always liked Stiles, and it seemed that no matter what Derek had done, Peter had kept in contact with Stiles over the years. Even though Peter was a defense attorney, Stiles used his firm to manage his business, bakery, and tech to ensure that he had no issues. Peter had created that branch of the firm just for Stiles. Which Derek had found out rankled his father to no end as he had asked for that for years. His father now had the Hale Firm behind him, but it was because of Stiles. 

If it wasn't for the fact that Peter had identified as asexual years before, Derek would have thought that Peter was in lust with Stiles, but it was very fatherly, and Derek refused to be jealous of it. Even when Peter texting Stiles interrupted Derek's pseudo-dates with Stiles. Though the last time it had happened, Derek enjoyed the running commentary that Stiles made about a man that Stiles only called Jackass, who was pissed that his fiance was interning with the Hale firm. Derek had been confused until he met Jackass in person and realized that Jackson Whittemore was a local lawyer with another firm. That was when Derek wondered about Lydia's taste in men if she was engaged to Jackson. He had to fuck like a boss to make it worth it to the woman. 

Derek walked back to where Stiles was asleep. Nightmares woke him up a few times a night some nights, and according to the texts that he had got while working his night shift, Stiles had been up most of the night. He didn't have a doctor's appointment that day, so he could sleep in. Derek sipped at his tea before he settled it on the nightstand. He grabbed the tablet and got into bed with Stiles, slipping to sit beside him. Stiles rolled over after a few minutes and wrapped an arm around Derek's leg. While they had not slept in the same bed yet, Derek had settled in for long stretches in the bed as Stiles slept better when Derek was there. 

Trying to stay awake, Derek started to play with the Sudoku puzzle game that was on the tablet. It was Stiles,' but he didn't mind Derek playing with it. Derek actually really liked the tablet, and he knew that it wasn't quite commercial in his operating system. He had seen a smattering of Google apps and Apple on it and wondered just how much of a toy it really was for Stiles. 

The feel of being warm and wrapped in something told Derek that he had fallen asleep as he tried to figure out where he was. He was groggy from not enough sleep and late hours at work. The arm around his waist told him that he was with someone, and recognizing his guest room in what he could see, said that it was Stiles. Derek tried to move away and get Stiles' arm off him, but Stiles just tightened it and called him a bad dog. Derek laughed. Stiles had said that all the time growing up when they had shared a bed to sleepover, and Derek didn't want to sleep in the guest room. Derek closed his eyes and willed himself back to sleep so that he could get enough to function. His family and Noah were going to take care of Aurora for the day. Stiles' nightmares were getting worse, and while he was talking to a doctor at the hospital about his trauma, it wasn't helping as much as it should and seemed to be making it worse every single day instead of better after a brief surge of bad. 

Derek opened his eyes to check the time. Stiles had been sleeping for three hours with Derek in bed with him, a record over the last few days. It was better than anything else. Derek closed his eyes, found the heavier blanket, and tossed it over them. Stiles shuffled just a little closer, his broken leg pressed down into the bed. 

The smell of Chinese food drew Derek out of sleep. He looked over to the bedroom door, seeing Peter there. Peter nodded his head at Derek and then pointed at Stiles, who was still asleep wrapped around Derek. Derek looked at the time again. Six hours. It was more than time for them to get up and get some pills into Stiles and food. 

"Hey, wake up," Derek said as he rolled his shoulder where he felt Stiles' face pressed there. 

"Bad dog," Stiles said, but there was affection in the sound, not the tone that he was half asleep. The little shit had been awake for at least a little bit. 

"I am not a dog."

"I could say so many bad things there, but your uncle would overhear, and we both know he would enjoy that too much. So get up so I can get off the bed, and you can feed me."

"Feed you?"

"Well, not by hand or anything, but you can get the food set out for me. Smells like Peter got the really good stuff." 

"To Uncle Peter, there is only that single restaurant of which he can eat the food in the whole of Beacon Country when it comes to Chinese, but he also knows it's your favorite, of course, he would send his assistant to get it."

"That's cause Peter likes me best." Stiles sounded smug as hell, just like he always had when they were kids.

"And has since we were children." Derek looked at the arm around him and smiled at it. This wasn't anything like what he thought would happen when he had got in bed with Stiles, but it was good. At least Derek hoped that it was.

"Hungry," Stiles said. He yawned a little and tugged on Derek. Derek waited for the arm to leave his body before he slid off of the bed and moved to help Stiles swing his broken leg off. Stiles sat up, and then Derek helped him off of the bed enough to where he could stay sat up while Derek got the crutches. It was a normal occurrence for Derek, so he didn't think much of it at all; he just moved by rote. It was a few minutes later, and they were in the kitchen, and Peter had the food already out on plates. 

Because Peter didn't feel that eating out of the boxes was something that one did at home. At work, yes, but never at home. Derek had a good dishwasher machine, so he would just slip them all into it. Derek knew which plate was his and which was Stiles just from the food that was on them. Though the pills that were by Stiles' and the glass of water was also a good indication. Derek hovered until Stiles was seated at the table, and then he sat.

"Thanks," Stiles said as he lifted up the fork with a chunk of meat on it. He shoved that into his mouth and chewed happily just as his stomach growled. "Missing breakfast wasn't the greatest idea, but I was so tired. I ate two of the bars you threw at me the other day, so I did get something in me, don't worry." Stiles looked at Derek when he said that. 

Derek knew the bars that Stiles was talking about. When he woke up, and needed pills but didn't want to move because he was tired. Derek had more of them and would need to check the bedside box. Stiles was good at moving around enough for his body to get loose and limber, but sometimes it wasn't worth it if he was alone. With the chance of falling over and hurting himself more, Derek was glad that Stiles didn't get out of bed all that often alone. Usually, that was only the bathroom, which the guest room had one inside. It also had a stand-up shower, which was a good thing considering that the stool that Stiles had to use wouldn't do as well in a regular bathtub. 

Peter started to talk about a few of his clients in roundabout terms and things they had done that were not covered by attorney-client privilege, which meant gossip that the town was spreading. Peter always knew all of it and said it made sense, given that gossip usually got his clients in trouble anyway.

"So, Stiles, who exactly is your father dating?"

"No one."

"Really? That's not what I've heard."

"He's having a few meetings with people who can't stand to be in the same room together without fighting. He wants their opinions on some things, and then he's going to have a bigger meeting with all of them and, in his words, knock their heads together if they try and derail his plans. That's why he's having dinners out with people; the last count was five. He didn't even break out his good clothes for them. They were nice, yes, but they were not his date clothes."

"I wondered, given the age of the shirts he was wearing." 

Derek looked at Peter because he knew that tone of voice. He glared at his uncle and tried to get him to look at him. Peter just kept on ignoring him.

"Yeah, Dad doesn't have date clothes. He says it's because he doesn't have enough time, and he did try it when I was in high school, but I think it's more that dating scares him. A smart person would start out with friends like things and then go from there." Stiles ducked his head down to catch a piece of broccoli that was trying to fall off of his fork. Peter looked away from Stiles, and when he did, Derek saw the grin on Stiles' face. The little shit was trying to hook his father up with Derek's uncle. Derek knew that Peter had a crush on him in high school but had never done a damned thing about it because of appearances and then because Noah went into the military. Peter had confessed that at one point to him after Derek had told Peter that he was bisexual. Peter had already known it. It seemed that the only person who didn't accept it was Derek. 

"How is your leg doing, Stiles?" Peter asked. He looked like the cat that got the cream already, and it seemed he was more than happy to change the topic of conversation. 

Derek let him change it and just listened as the two talked about his leg and then other things that spiraled from there. There was a reason that they got along and had since the first time that Derek had brought Stiles home to play together. Peter worked from home as much as possible, given that he got bothered less when he was home, so he got roped into making sure that Derek and Stiles didn't kill each other more often than not by Derek's mother and father. 

Stiles started to yawn when he was nearly done with his food. He had already taken his pills, so a little of that was from the pain killers, and the rest was just not getting enough sleep and his body healing. 

"Why don't we find something to watch?" Derek asked. According to Peter, Stiles took daytime naps on the couch, so Derek hoped that he didn't fight him on it. 

"Sure. Fellowship." 

"Fine." Derek rolled his eyes but gave Stiles a grin when Stiles fake gasped. 

Derek started to clear the table of all of the empty plates while Peter worked on getting everything into the fridge left from the meal. Stiles would probably eat it for a snack between lunch and dinner, cold right from the fridge. Derek made them both a cup of tea while he listened to Stiles, settling himself in the living room. Derek heard Peter make his goodbyes, and then they were alone. 

Stiles was seated on the couch, in the middle. Derek wasn't sure what Stiles wanted, but he was pretty sure that cuddling was part of it. Derek knew that Stiles missed being touched a lot outside of his father. He had admitted it to Derek during one of the heartfelt conversations they had at Moon's when Derek was visiting. The Hales were all very tactile, and it was something he missed. Outside of Peter. Peter seemed to not give a fuck about Derek and Stiles' issues and had kept on visiting him. Even when he had gone to Caltech, Peter had made weekend trips up to see him. Peter had taken care of Stiles in a way that Derek hadn't been able to, and even Noah hadn't. Derek wondered if that was where Peter's want of Noah came from. 

Derek settled on the couch, and as soon as Stiles started to turn, Derek pulled his leg up onto the couch and slipped it behind Stiles. Derek tried to control his heart's beating; he was glad that Stiles couldn't hear it as it would freak him out. Derek settled in and allowed Stiles to lay against him. It kept Stiles' leg up on the couch since it was still swelling some when down too long and sometimes even just down for a meal caused it. 

"Comfortable?" Derek asked as he grabbed the remote. Stiles just hummed an answer and laid his head on Derek's shoulder. They hadn't been close like this since high school. Derek wanted to think that this meant they would be doing the real dating thing soon, but he wasn't going to ask. Not yet, not while Stiles was still a little loopy from the pain meds he was taking. It wouldn't be fair. 

Derek found his streaming service, loaded up his purchased version of the extended Fellowship of the Ring, and turned it on. He looked down to see that Stiles already had his eyes closed. When Galadriel started to speak, Derek watched as Stiles mouthed the words along with her. He smiled as he was glad that Stiles still loved the movies as much as they used to. Derek had bought the Blu-rays of them and then the digital as soon as they had come out. 

Stiles was asleep before Merry and Pip were caught by Gandalf with the fireworks. Derek watched him sleep instead of watching the movie. Derek would do anything to have this in his life for the rest of it. He had been going to therapy, and he knew that he needed more, but he was willing to put in the work. Derek looked at the screen and then tipped his head back to rest on the back, and he closed his eyes for a few seconds.

The sound of a horn blowing woke up Derek. He looked around and then saw Boromir on the screen. He had slept a lot longer than he thought he would. Stiles was still asleep, and Derek was glad of it. Stiles needed it, and if sleeping with or on Derek was going to help him, he would do it. 

Derek started up Two Towers when it was time and smiled as its sound started to wake up Stiles. 

"Hungry," Stiles said. He rolled to his side, his shoulder digging into Derek's body for a few seconds before he turned it after he got his leg settled. 

"You are always hungry." Derek pressed a kiss to the side of Stiles' head and then held up Stiles while he slipped out from under him. He scooted a pillow under his head. The first box of food was the fullest, so Derek grabbed it and a fork for Stiles to eat. The tea was cold on the coffee table but would work for a drink for them. Derek grabbed a second fork and the next box when he walked by the fridge again. He was just hungry enough to want to eat something. 

"I missed nearly the whole movie," Stile pouted.

Derek sighed and exited Two Towers before opening up Fellowship again. Derek found where Stiles had fallen asleep and started it up again. Stiles was grinning as he forced himself to sit up so that he could eat and not choke. That would be a miracle anyway with how much Stiles used to quote the movie. 

"Take me on a date," Stiles said when the food was all gone, and they were cuddled together on the couch again. 

"What?" Derek asked. He turned away from the movie, pausing it. 

"Tomorrow night. I know you don't work tomorrow so I think it would be good. You can pick me up from Moon's, and we can walk down the block to the fancy restaurant and eat dinner together. Just you and me." 

"That sounds great." Derek smiled at Stiles and tipped his head to where he could place a kiss on his forehead. Stiles sighed and nestled down into Derek's body. 


	9. Chapter 8

# Chapter 8

Derek laughed as Stiles pushed him into the door as soon as they were through it. Stiles was finally steady on his feet after getting the brace off and no longer using the cane he had been using the last few weeks. Derek was just glad that he was not in pain anymore. It was drastic, Stiles was in pain a lot, and then all of a sudden, he really wasn't anymore. It was weird the way that it happened. The body was a marvel, though, and Derek knew that better than most. 

"You'll wake up the neighbors," Derek said.

"I hope not." Stiles was grinning as he slowly inched in to kiss Derek. 

Derek didn't dare move forward if Stiles felt like being a little shit and pulled away. Derek looked at Stiles until he was too close, and he was going cross-eyed. Shutting his eyes, Derek reveled in the feel of Stiles' lips pressed to his. They had kissed several times over the last two months since that first date, but it hadn't ever got any further than that. Derek had built on the trust that they had with each other as friends to make the relationship work. Date nights ended with Derek taking Stiles home, where Noah watched Aurora next door. 

There was something different about this date, and so far, Derek hadn't put his finger on it yet. It wasn't just that it was Valentine's day, a day that before now Derek ignored, but Stiles had been the one to ask him on the date the week before. Derek just hadn't put the date with the day when he had been asked. Stiles had been sneaky about it and just asked to take Derek out on Friday, but the date had been left off. Derek was mostly on a schedule now that things were calm at the hospital again. He worked throughout the week for the most part. Stiles had hired someone else to work with Erica in the front on a part-time basis. Stiles worked whenever Derek worked, so it was the rest of the time that someone was needed to cover. 

Spencer had already been hired to work there when he got home from school for the summer as the patronage picked up at the bakery as well with people out and about more. It started in spring, but Derek had already volunteered to help when Stiles worked alone, and Derek was off of work. It was rarely a hardship to do that, as Derek already did it. Stiles did all of the big stuff, and Derek just had to run the register and snag Stiles for kisses when he passed by him. 

"Stay the night?" Stiles asked when he pulled back out of the kiss. 

Derek knew by the way that Stiles said it that it was more than just sleeping in the same bed. Derek knew that Stiles was ready because he asked, but Derek wasn't sure if he was ready for that step. 

"I am unsure." 

"Why?" Stiles asked. He didn't look hurt, just curious.

"I am not sure I am ready for that." Derek knew that Stiles would never hurt him on purpose, but the thought of sex with Stiles made Derek's blood pump in anticipation but also worry. He wasn't sure what he wanted as far as sex went. He wasn't sure he was ready for penetration at all, either giving or receiving, but just rubbing off seemed like not enough for their first time together. Derek had been waiting so long for this that he would have thought that he would know what he wanted. 

"For sleeping in the same bed? We don't have to have sex; I've just kind of missed sleeping with you after I moved back out of your place in January." 

"You don't want sex?"

"Oh, I want sex, but I'm not an asshole who thinks that since we are dating, we need to have sex, and that means you don't get a say or get pressured into it. We've not even really got past heavy petting, Derek. If more happens, YAY." Stiles raised his hands like he was dancing for a few seconds. "If not, we can get a good night's sleep in. Maybe try in the morning." 

"You sure?" Derek asked.

"That I don't want to pressure you? Yes."

"I've never done anything with a guy."

"Good. Neither have I."

"What?" Derek looked at Stiles, and he knew that he was shocked as hell. It wasn't something that had really come up. Hell, Stiles knew more about Derek's sexual history than most people did with Kate. 

"I never..." Stiles sighed, and he pressed forward for a kiss before he pulled away again. Stiles cupped the sides of Derek's face, brushing at his cheeks before he let them sink down Derek's body to take his hands. They were silent as Derek was tugged up to Stiles' bedroom. Derek hadn't been on the second floor before. The first had a bathroom that met his needs more than when he was over for dinner with Aurora and Stiles. He never felt like it was a good idea to invade Stiles' private areas of the house. 

Derek felt the tension leave Stiles' body when he crossed into the bedroom. Derek dropped one hand so that he could shut the door, just in case Aurora came over for something. Stiles kept on walking toward the bed, and he turned at the last moment, tugging at Derek until he was at the bed. Derek settled down on the bed and looked up at Stiles. Stiles stepped close to him and tipped his head up. 

"I went to therapy in school and after school. I have a lot of trust issues." Stiles pressed his hands in when Derek opened his mouth to speak. "You are not to blame for them. I could have talked to someone right after. I ignore problems until they go away. By the time I noticed that this issue was gone, I didn't know how big an issue it had become. I tried, but every single person I went out with just...I never could connect with them enough to even try and trust them. The last person I talked to said that I needed to end things on better terms with you. Talk to you. Find out why you did what you did. Push you the rest of the way out of my life after I had moved on."

"You didn't, though."

"No, because I still say the boy and teenager I fell in love with the inside of the man I was seeing in front of me. You didn't demand that someone else work on Aurora when no one in their right might would even try and force you. You comforted me in your own weird way, just like you used to. You looked at me like you were looking at the one thing in the world that could make you happy. Yeah, I thought about it for a few minutes, going on that first date with you, maybe even going as far as sex and then dumping your ass. Treating you like shit. I would have done it years ago when I was still angry."

"Because you are an asshole who gets really angry when hurt, and you lash out." 

"I wanted to put sugar in your gas tank the same day you got your car, but I didn't. I wanted to pull a Carrie at prom. I was back home for that weekend from Caltech for dinner with the few friends I had left. I would go to prom, but the school wouldn't let me since I was technically a college student and already graduated. They didn't think that it sent the right message, even though these were the kids I had gone to school with since kindergarten. Dad wanted to fight it, but I told him it was fine. So I went to dinner with them and then picked them up to drive them home. I was puked on, so I guess it was a good night. I spent the rest of the evening at home watching TV and eating pizza. I saw you standing outside when I picked them up. I saw you looking so lost. I heard you had taken no one, hadn't even bought a second ticket to be tempted. I felt vindicated, but also it hurt that you were alone. I hated that feeling."

"Stiles."

"No, God, please don't stop me. I grew up that night, even more than I had. I stopped hating you, but I still hated what you had done. I wanted to be happy, but you were not happy, which meant that our lives would not be intertwined. I had never thought of a point where I thought you and I would never be friends. So that's why I didn't throw you out. I wanted the friendship back, even if you had hurt me. Even if we never got to where we were. I don't think that some part of me ever fell out of love with you." 

Derek didn't know what to say to that, so he pulled Stiles down onto his lap, kissing him deeply. Derek wanted to crawl into his body and not let go. He didn't want to ever let go of Stiles. 

"Show me how you feel," Stiles said minutes later when they broke apart to breathe. The look on his face calmed every single fear that Derek had, and he let go.

* * *

A large weight landing on him had Derek trying to roll away from the pain. He opened his eyes to see what had hurt him, but there was nothing around. Then he saw the thing moving to his side and saw Aurora. Derek groaned and laid back to watch her as she summarily attacked her father in the bed. 

"AH!" Stiles screamed and rolled out of bed. Aurora started to laugh, and she fell over, landing on Derek's stomach. She looked up at Derek with a grin on her face. 

"I got him, huh?" Aurora asked.

"Yeah, you did. You got him good."

"Derek, do I have pants on?" Stiles asked. 

"I do, so I hope that you do." Derek barely remembered Stile shoving pants at him the night before they had stumbled back to bed after cleaning up. They hadn't done more than just kissing and rubbing off on each other, but it had been more than enough to get them dirty. Derek remembered the look on Stiles' face when he had come, and Derek wanted to see that more. 

"Breakfast!" Noah yelled.

Derek thought about joining Stiles on the floor when he heard the feet on the stairs. He looked to see that Noah was dressed for work, and he looked at the time. It wasn't time for Noah's shift, but he would have to leave soon. Derek was shocked that he had come over and made breakfast. Unless Stiles forgot to mention that it had been the plan all along. He wouldn't put it past Stiles to forget that little tidbit. Or his father wanted to see why Derek's car was still in the driveway. The man had to have checked or hoped that Aurora would never have been let up if they were naked. 

"Is anyone getting out of bed?" Noah asked.

"Daddy's already out of bed."

"Really? Where?" Noah was grinning and laughed a second later. His eyes were full of happiness. 

Derek looked to the side and saw that Stiles had raised up an arm. 

"I'm here, Dad. I was dive-bombed out of bed."

"Ah, that was what sounded like a herd of elephants tromping through a few minutes ago." 

The hand that was up turned into a fist and a finger shot up. 

"DADDY!" Aurora jumped off the side of the bed, and there was an oof from the floor. "That's a bad word."

"Your grandfather was acting like a bad word," Stiles said. It sounded like something they often said to each other.

"How do you like your eggs, Derek?"

"Still over easy, Noah." Derek slipped off of the bed.

"Good. I need an adult in the house. Stiles still eats his scrambled." 

"I'm am an adult. I own my own business and everything. I run it."

"And you still ask people if they want to see a seafood buffet and show them the chewed up food in your mouth." 

"I haven't done that in three weeks!" Stiles said. He sat up, and Derek could see the top of his head and Aurora sitting on his lap. Stiles stood up, Aurora in his arms. Stiles had also put on a shirt, which reminded Derek that he was standing there half-naked. He looked around and saw that Stiles had laid a T-shirt out for him the night before. Derek grabbed it and slipped it on. It was a tight fit, but it was better than nothing at all. 

"I have coffee on, and everything is staying warm in the oven. I'll head down; you three join me when you are ready." 

Aurora was already dressed for the day; it seemed in a very different outfit than Derek had seen her in the day before when they had dropped her off at Noah's after leaving Moon's. 

"You had an adult sleepover?" Aurora asked as Stiles settled her onto the bed on her feet. He pressed a kiss to her cheek before he pulled up his sleep pants a little and then tied the strings into a knot. Derek knew that the pants looked a little big on him, so he understood not wanting them to fall off and flash anyone. 

"Yes, sweetie, I did have an adult sleepover. We talked about those, remember."

"Yes, I know, but Gramps came up first and told me that your door was open, and both of you were dressed so I could dive bomb you."

"And I'm glad you remembered to have Grandpa check first."

Derek nodded his head. The sound of Stiles' stomach growling had Aurora laughing. She turned around to face Derek. 

"Carry me down on your back?"

"Piggyback ride?" Derek asked.

"Yes, please." Aurora jumped over to the edge of the bed and waited for Derek to turn around and waited for her to jump onto him. The piggyback rides had been something a little newer to their friendship, but Derek was glad of them. Aurora was just as affectionate as Stiles had been when he was younger. Which, Derek didn't really expect anything different. She learned from her father, who was affectionate with everyone in his life. She was wary around strangers and even those close to her. He had seen her refuse to go outside with Peter one day, and Derek had to go with her. She had never been afraid of Derek, though; even people who wanted to do harm could be doctors. It was rare for someone who hurt children exclusively, but sadists and sociopaths slipped through all of the time. 

Derek bounced Aurora on his shoulders as he went down the stairs. Stiles was behind him, laughing. Derek dropped Aurora on the counter in the kitchen and turned around to help her get down. 

"I got it!" Aurora slid off of the counter and bounced on her feet over to where her grandfather was dishing up food. She carried three plates to the table before sitting down in front of one. There was already coffee and tea on the table, as well as a stack of toast that looked like it was a whole loaf of bread. Derek grabbed four and laid them on his smaller plate. Stiles grabbed a few as he sat down, showing one into his mouth. As soon as he started to chew, Aurora started to eat. Noah sat down a few seconds later with two glasses of orange juice in one hand and a glass of grape in the other. He laid the grape in front of Derek before setting one orange in front of Aurora. He drank a sip of the other before putting it down in front of his plate. 

"No juice for Stiles?" Derek asked. 

"Not today. Today is my favorite day at the shop."

"Post Valentine's Day?"

"The bakers will be making more than enough sweets to drown those who were dateless last night in sugar highs. Or those who were dumped because people are assholes. We make everything today. Everything. So I'm gonna be snacking on that stuff all day long. Wanna join me?"

"The sweets you make? All-day long? Yes." 

"Good. Let's eat then." Stiles smiled before he tucked into his good again. 

"What about Aurora?"

"I go too. I console all the crying ladies with the promise that someday they will have a perfect princess like me. Some guys too."

Derek looked at Stiles to see that he was nodding his head. Derek knew that Stiles was using the bakery to soothe wounds, but it was a big assed bit of trolling really that he was doing with that. It looked helpful to everyone who was hurting, but all it was was a chance to line Stiles' pocket. Derek loved it. 

Breakfast was consumed fast, and then they piled into Stiles' car to open up the bakery. It was way too damned early, but it looked like the bakers had been there for a long time already. Isaac and Boyd, as well as the other two part-timers, were worn out looking. There were two air pots for each kind of coffee out. Derek knew that they knew what they were doing, but it looked like Stiles was getting ready for Easter and not Valentine's Day. Derek walked over and started to brew each of the pots. There were thankfully three machines for that. The one was just for water, though, so he could only make two coffee at first. He made two of the dark and then would go down the strength. He found the second pot for hot water and got it ready to go. Stiles was going to go through the tea, and given how much they sold on a normal day, this was going to be even worse. 

Stiles danced around in the kitchen, getting everything into the cases and then into the coolers for easy grabbing. Derek started to make a pot of tea that Stiles loved the most that gave him enough energy to do what he needed and no sugar added so he could eat more sweets. 

When the store opened, it was chaos. Derek could barely think beyond what was needed next. Stiles ran the register, and Derek grabbed everything he needed for each customer. Erica came in an hour later, and it was still chaos. 

At four, Derek could breathe again, and he looked around at the wrecked remains of the shop. Everything was sold, so Erica flipped the sign to closed and then dropped right there. The bakers had all left at noon and had already put in a full day. Stiles looked worn out, and Aurora was slumped against him, sleeping. 

"What ya thinking?" Stiles asked as he looked at Derek.

"That I could be around for this every year for the rest of my life and be happy."

"You are insane."

"You knew that already," Derek said. He walked over and leaned over to kiss Stiles. Stiles hummed into it but kept it chaste. 

"I love you," Stiles said when Derek pulled out of the kiss and cupped Stiles' cheeks.

"I love you, too." Derek rubbed his thumb across the side of Stiles' cheek. "I wanna be here for this forever. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's more than okay." Stiles smiled. 

"DO we need to add another to the table at Miss Rosa's?" Boyd asked as he came in from the back. 

Derek was kind of shocked to see him awake.

"All napped out?" Stiles asked. 

"Yeah. Your Dad called today to let me know that he remembered that everyone would need rides home, and Miss Aurora can go to the station, and he'll take her home before coming and dragging your sorry ass home."

"What's going on?"

"Miss Rosa's has their room booked out for us. We will go there, eat too many chips and salsa, and whatever else we want, and drink margaritas by the pitcher. We get skunk drunk and die at the end. Then tomorrow we wake up too late and don't open until just before church lets out."

"That sounds awesome."

"Yeah, we do something like this after we sell out at Christmas and Easter as well."

Derek looked at everyone who was worn out, and he thought that this would be his life forever. Just busting his butt at work and then hanging out with Stiles as much as he could, even if it meant here. Mornings tangled in bed with him and Aurora jumping on them to wake them up. Yeah, he could do that for the rest of his life.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story! 
> 
> I can be found on MeWe [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot.


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